You're Insane, I like that
by HandOfSorrow
Summary: A trouble making woman in Gotham, known as The Queen of Hearts, notices how much she enjoys the idea of getting rid of Batman, as well as how much she'd like to help The Joker in returning the 'boring' city into a chaotic forest of flames. TDK Joker/OC
1. The Queen of Hearts

_I've decided to try my hand at a Joker/OC story set during The Dark Knight. What can I say? It turned me into a hopeless fangirl of the scarred maniac. _

_Seeing as this is my first try at any story non-anime related (more or less), bare with me if it's not all that great. The chapters will likely be pretty short, too._

_Oh, forgive me if parts of this story are incorrect for whatever reason. Even though I've seen the movie three times, I don't remember alot of little details, such as the what happens when in the storyline. XD Also forgive me if Queen seems kinda Mary Sue-ish. She wasn't supposed to..._

_DC Comics owns The Joker, Batman, the storyline, Harvey Dent, and everything besides Queen.  
The Queen of Hearts belongs to me_.

**1**

**The Queen of Hearts**

The inside of the bar was dirty, hot, and filled with cigarette smoke and sweaty, drunken men.

Amongst the many men in the bar sat a woman with long red-brown hair. Sitting atop her head was a plastic crown, held in place by an elastic string that was tucked snuggly beneath her chin. The sleeves of her red shirt, which covered only her right shoulder, then fell and exposed her left shoulder and the upper portion of her chest, on which a heart—wearing a crown—tattoo was embedded, dangled down past her palms, only allowing her fingertips visibility.

The woman sighed and crossed her black jeans clad legs, before spinning in her chair and returning to face the bar counter. She took a sip of her water—not being much interested in alcohol—and eyed the man approaching her.

"Hey, baby," The drunken man slurred. "What're you doin' here by yourselfs?" He slung a sweaty arm around her shoulders, which she calmly shrugged off.

"I like being alone," She stated.

""You'd like bein' wit' me better," The man cooed, not being nearly as seductive as he thought.

"I don't think I would," The woman spoke.

"C'mon, gimme a chance. You won't regret it," The man leaned closer to her.

"You know what?" The woman asked, spinning around to face him. "You're boring. I don't like boring. So, how about a show?"

"I like the sound of that," The man cleared his throat.

"Good. You be the entertainment," The woman pulled a gun out of the back of her jeans and pointed it at the mans head. He backed up quickly, and numerous shouts arose from the bar.

"What's wrong? Aren't you going to dance for the people?" The woman swung her arm out to recognize everyone in the bar. She lowered the gun and pointed it at the mans feet, pulling the trigger and driving a bullet into the ground right beside his shoe. The man jumped away.

She shot the gun at his feet again, and he jumped away from the bullet, again.

"Hmm," The woman frowned. "You are _really_ bad at this. Who taught you to dance?"

"You bitch…" The drunken man hissed, going to hit the woman. She rolled her eyes and shot at his feet, hitting the target and sending a bullet into his foot. He screamed and fell back, holding his wounded foot in agony.

The woman sighed. "Tsk, tsk. You have to be _careful_, or you'll end up getting yourself hurt."

She clicked her tongue as she heard police sirens.

"That's my cue," She spoke, turning towards the emergency exit. She stopped, and leaned over the counter to look at the bartender on the floor, motioning to the still half full glass of water. "Put this on my tab." She smiled and quickly exited the building, just as the police entered.

Outside, on the wall beside the emergency exit, there was a heart, wearing a crown, carved into the wall.


	2. The Joker

**2**

**The Joker**

Heaving a sigh, Queen entered her apartment. Though it was small and with very little furniture, she liked it. All that was really in the room was a couch, a table and a TV. A camcorder was in the closet too, Queen once noticed. Left by the former resident. She never got rid of it, since it may come in handy at some point.

She fell onto the couch and frowned at the television, which was turned on. She could have sworn she turned it off…

She shrugged, and turned up the volume to listen to the news report that was on. The reported mentioned The Joker a few times, as well as 'disturbing footage', before being replaced onscreen by a man in a Batman suit, tied to a chair.

"Tell us your name," Said a voice off-camera, presumably male, which sounded as if he was trying his best to restrain laughter.

"…B-Brian," said the man in the Batman suit.

"Are you the _real_ Batman?" The off-camera voice asked.

"…No—"

"No?" The voice interrupted, giggling madly as he pulled off Brian's mask, waving it around and making mocking noises. "And do you think Batman _helps_ Gotham?"

"He's a symbol that we don't have to be afraid of people like you…" Brian said, speaking a bit more confidently as if he just found his courage.

"Oh, yes you do, Brian," The man off-camera retorted. "Yes you do." Queen laughed; whoever that guy was, he was definitely awesome in her book.

As if the man had stolen his courage with one sentence, Brian looked away from the camera, quite possibly shaking in fear, though with the shakiness of the camera it was difficult to tell.

"Look at me," The man off camera coaxed, but when Brian didn't comply, he roared the order at him. Queen laughed, her sadistic side shining through.

"I love this guy!" She laughed.

Brian shook violently, and snapped his vision back to the camera, which was almost immediately turned away and faced to the man holding it.

Oh, so _that's_ who it was…the make-up and scars gave it away.

The Joker.

"You see," He began, licking his lips. "THIS is what Batman has done to Gotham!"

"Tell me about it," Queen said, wiping a tear of laughter from the corner of her eye as she listened to The Joker's rant.

"Every night that Batman doesn't remove his mask, _people will die_," He drew out the last words he said, emphasizing to show he meant it. "I'm a man of my word!"

The camera began to shake as The Joker laughed maniacally and Brian screamed, and in a sudden flicker, the footage was gone and the news reporter was back onscreen.

Queen stared at the television silently, her face blank for a few moments. Soon, her lips curved up, and she began to chuckle. Her chuckles quickly turned to giggles, until she was roaring with hysterical laughter.

"Ooh, man!" She laughed, holding her sides and making a futile attempt to stay on the couch. "I have GOT to meet this guy!" She forced herself off the floor, which she had fallen on during her fit of laughter, and smiled.

"Just pulling a gun on drunken assholes isn't good enough now," She said, still chuckling lightly. "I need something bigger. Something that'll gain the media…as well as _his_…attention."

The sun had left the city of Gotham, leaving the city, as well as Queen's room, cloaked in darkness. And within the darkness, Queen muttered but one thing;

"I got it."

That camera _will_ come in handy, after all.


	3. The Bomb

_So, I'm mixing up the storyline slightly and inserting my own little scene. Sorry XD And I know bombs are unoriginal, but I'm pretty unoriginal too. So yeah.  
Oh yes, and The Joker will come in soon. Well, i guess the video counts as him coming in, but whatever. He and Queen will interact soon enough. XD_

* * *

**3**

**The Bomb**

The news reporter for GCN News sat back in his chair, going over in his head what he was to say when the camera began recording. The cameramen scurried behind the set, setting up equipment and making sure everything was in place. Recording live was a pain.

"We're going on the air soon," announced a cameraman as he took his place. "3…2…" He put one finger in the air silently, and began recording. The news reporter straightened.

"Good Evening and welcome to GCN News," Said the reporter, his voice deaf to his own ears. He had memorized the story, and thus spoke of The Joker's victims mindlessly.

Suddenly, his voice in the microphone was replaced by static, and the image of him on televisions throughout Gotham was replaced by a woman with long red-brown hair and a plastic crown atop her head.

The Queen of Hearts.

"Hello, Gotham," Sang Queen as she smiled to the camera. Though, it wasn't a live recording, as the light in the background signaled that it was filmed earlier in the day. "It's come to my attention that a certain scarred man is trying to get rid of Batman, and return Gotham to the chaotic city it once was. An interesting idea, frightening, some of you may say. But, you know what?" She paused.

"I'm on his side."

A smile was on Queens face as she spoke to the camera. "Now, I lack the privilege to work with The Joker. So don't go assuming I'm in cahoots with him. I'm not. However, I do believe that, with Batman around, Gotham has become exceedingly…" She paused to find the right word, which she did quickly. "Boring."

"So, in an attempt to bring back Gotham's chaotic side in my own way, I've set up a bomb in…" The camera was picked up and turned to face a building outside the window of whatever room Queen was in. "That building. I won't tell you what building that is, and of course I won't tell you where in the building the bomb is. But, I'll give you a clue!" The camera turned to face Queen once more. "It's a hotel."

"So then, Batman; Caped crusader who tries his best to protect this doomed city; you might want to get a move on." The camera turned back to the building outside, zooming in to view through the windows of the rooms. Inside were men and women, some parents and their children. All innocent and happy. "You wouldn't want these innocent people to die, would you?" The camera faced her again. "Or are you not as heroic as this city deems you, hm?"

She reached her hand over the camera, placing her finger on the 'record' button. She stopped, however, and looked back to the cameras eye.

"Might want to hurry," Queen grinned. "Who knows how much time you have before the bomb detonates?" With that, the screen switched to black, with a picture of a heart wearing a crown in the middle.

Soon the image was removed from the screen, and GCN regained control over the network.

* * *

Queen smirked from her place in a parked car, the owner of which was unconscious in the back seat (thank God for tinted windows), outside the hotel near her apartment complex. She could see the news report through a window on the second floor. It turned out just as she wanted.

Her eyes traveled to the exit of the hotel lobby, out of which numerous people were scurrying, holding on to children, belongings, lovers, whatever they didn't want to explode.

Queen flipped on the radio absently, checking to see if anyone was talking about her video and keeping the volume low so no one would know she was in the car.

"That woman in that news video is just a Joker wannabe, I bet," Said a male on the radio. "Even her name, 'The Queen of Hearts', is a rip-off!"

"Come on," sighed a female. "What's next, 'The Jack of Spades'? I bet she doesn't even _have_ a bomb!" The woman began to speak again, but was cut short when Queen, highly annoyed, turned off the radio.

She tried to get the attention of the media (and The Joker), and she's _ridiculed_? Ridiculous!

Queen ran and aggravated hand through her hair as she glanced at the clock, its light teal glow reading 6:27 pm. Provided there were no interruptions, the bomb would detonate at 8 o'clock.

That left Batman, or whoever, just about an hour and a half to find and disarm it.

Queen laughed, "Good luck." She then turned the key to the ignition, and drove off, away from the hotel.

* * *

_Sorry_,_ it's short. I'll update soon, though. I promise D_


	4. The Kidnapping

_And The Joker makes his entrance!_ _Muhaha cough. I'm so sorry if he's out of character! I'm trying my best to keep him in character but it's hard _D:

_And I'm sure you've noticed the usage of 'the's in the titles XD Yeah, ongoing pattern._

_Fweh, Enjoy XD_

* * *

**4**

**The Kidnapping**

A man smiled at what he saw on the television in front of him, the scars at the corner of his mouth only widening his grin.

"Wonderful!" He giggled, licking his lips, "Someone in Gotham is actually _on my side_--" He paused to recognize the thugs in clown masks behind him. "--without me threatening them!" None of the thugs said anything, only shifted slightly.

"Bring her to me," The man ordered, nodding and licking his lips once again, "She'll be some fun!" The thugs muttered a 'yes, boss' and departed, leaving the man—The Joker—to laugh at the image of The Queen of Hearts on the television screen.

"As long as she doesn't think _I'm_ working for _her_."

Queen flicked some of her red-brown hair out of her face, and continued to walk calmly through the dark Gotham streets. Since her trouble making trips to the bars had been cast aside for better, bigger plans, she didn't really wander the streets anymore. At least during the day.

Her face had been shown on live television (more or less), after all. If she walked about during the day, there was no doubt someone would recognize her and cause a scene. This is why she walked around during the night.

She didn't return to her apartment either, someone there would cause a scene too. Instead she stole a room in a different complex from some guy, who was currently tied up and gagged in his own closet.

She was a wanted criminal now, too. The bomb she set up had detonated uninterrupted like she hoped. With Batman in the hotel at the time!

Unfortunately he somehow managed to survive. The death count was zero.

But even so, that didn't keep Gotham from wanting to lock her away. She was a 'threat', after all. And even though she made it clear she wasn't, all of Gotham now thought she was working with the Joker.

Stupid.

Queen turned a corner, and stopped as she saw two men, wearing clown masks, standing a few meters in front of her. She heard shuffling behind her, and immediately knew there was another one trying to sneak up on her.

In a second, her vision went black, and she could feel something pulling on her head. The guy behind her had put a burlap sack over her head, figures.

"Is this…" She paused as another man tied her hands and shoved her slightly, "Really necessary?"

"Quiet," one of the men muttered, swinging her over his shoulder.

"Oof!" Queen coughed slightly as her stomach hit the mans shoulder blade, "I can walk…" The men didn't respond. She could feel one hold onto her hands as the other held onto her feet.

She sighed. "Mind telling me where you're taking me? If this is gang rape you obviously don't watch the news—"

"Should I gag her?" One of the men asked, and the one carrying Queens torso shrugged, making her groan in protest.

"Nah," He said. "Don't worry about it."

Queen didn't bother to struggle. If it was really needed, she could kick their asses once they proved they were a threat. But until they did, she didn't find it necessary.

After an undetermined amount of time (undetermined, as in, she didn't bother to count), Queen was released by the men, and thrown to the ground. She shouted unhappily.

"Is that ANY way to treat a lady!?" She complained.

"She has a _p_oin_t_," Spoke a familiar voice behind her. Queen straightened, looking around despite the sack on her head.

"I know that voice," She said, trying to shake the sack off.

"Allow me," Said the voice Queen knew but just _couldn't_ match a name to. She felt a tug on the sack for a moment, then a sudden slack as the rope holding it closed was cut. Light (though it wasn't much) flooded into her eyes as the sack was removed, causing her to wince. She shook her head a bit, moving some of her hair out of her face (and in the process knocking off her crown, which fell back and patted her shoulder), then looked behind her.

The man smirked down at her, the scars branching off his mouth only making his crimson painted smile bigger. His dark, amused eyes were surrounded by black paint that dripped down his cheeks, as if he was crying, contrasting to the white powder covering the rest of his face.

Queen grinned, "The Joker, I presume." Said man laughed a bit.

"Glad to know you're happy to see me," He chuckled, licking his lips.

"Very much so," Queen replied, making an attempt to get up, but failing due to her still tied up hands. "Uh," She frowned, "Would you mind…?"

"Not at all, _darling_," He cooed as he cut the ropes constricting her hands easily. Queen stood up quickly, almost knocking herself over, fixed her crown, and put her hand out to the scarred man before her.

"The Queen of Hearts," She introduced, "I know I'm being a bit friendly, but…ya' know. Oh, nice to finally meet you, by the way." The Joker laughed heartily, and took her hand, shaking it a bit before releasing it again. Queen glanced down at her hand, seeing make-up smeared all over it. She snickered a bit before wiping her hands together to get it off.

"So," She began, "May I ask why you got those…" She paused to look back at the thugs who 'kidnapped' her. "…men…to capture me?"

The Joker laughed once again, something he seemed to like doing. "I figured it would be _fun_ to have you around for the time being." He licked his lips again.

"Glad to hear," Queen smiled, and then turned to regard the thugs. "But I think a BLINDFOLD would have worked just as well. I mean, really, that sack smelled like broccoli…" The Joker laughed again as the thugs frowned beneath their masks.

"And I assume you plan on killing me once I get boring?" Queen asked.

"Yep," The Joker replied bluntly, grinning.

"Ah," Queen laughed a bit. "Well, I guess I better not get boring then!"

One of the thugs shifted a bit, and muttered, "They…get along really well…"

"There's no way she's human," Another whispered.

"Any _normal_ person would be scared shitless of that freak."

The Joker cast a glance at the thugs, apparently able to hear their conversation. They shut up immediately. Queen followed The Joker's eyes and looked at the thugs.

"Huh," She muttered in a questioning tone, even though she didn't really expect to learn why he was giving the thugs the death glare.

The Joker clicked his tongue, and, so quickly that Queen barely realized, pulled out a gun and shot the thug that called him a 'freak' square in the forehead. The thug fell to the ground in a bloody, crumpled heap, leaving his brains to slide down the wall slowly.

Queen whistled, "Damn!"

"Did you say something?" The Joker asked as he put away his gun, regarding the two still-living thugs (though Queen almost thought he was talking to her).

"Uh, not at all, boss," They stuttered awkwardly. Joker grinned.

"Good then," He stated, turning around and grabbing a pair of brown, seemingly leather gloves off of the table and pulling them on. "Well, let's get _mo_ving!"

"Huh?" Queen asked, looking to The Joker, "Get moving to where?" He turned and smirked at her.

"Harvey Dent is having a party--" He said, "--that I wouldn't miss for the _wor_ld."


	5. The Party

**5**

**The Party**

Queen followed The Joker and his men through the very clean and shiny lobby of the building Harvey Dent's 'party' was being held in. The lobbyist was crouched on the floor behind her desk, more than willing to let them through, and the security was strewn, unconscious, across the floor. One security member, however, was being dragged along with them, held at gunpoint.

"Fancy place," Queen stated as they entered the elevator. The Joker made sure to stand in front, holding the officer in front of him so that when the door opened, he'd be the first one seen. Joker clicked the button for the top floor.

"That it is," He cackled, fixing his hair. Queen looked at him and snickered. He was such an odd man.

She blinked as The Joker reached over and adjusted her crown, which apparently had been falling. He patted some of her hair down as well. "You have to look _presentable_ at things like this!" He jokingly scolded.

Queen laughed a bit. "Right, sorry. I'll remember that myself next time." The elevator dinged as they passed another floor, and Joker faced forward, poking the officer in the back with his gun, as if reminding him that he could kill him any second.

It took a minute for them to make it to the designated floor, but once they did, they made quite the entrance (flashy or not, they scared the shit outta the party guests).

The elevator doors opened, and The Joker threw the officer to the ground, walking casually into the party floor, singing "Hello, ladies and gentle_men_!"

Queen put her gun to the back of the officer's neck and shot him quickly. Couldn't leave him alive to cause problems, after all.

"I'm looking for Harvey Dent," The Joker said as he sauntered around the room, picking up h'or doevres and drinking from random glasses of wine (and splashing some of the liquid on the nearby guests) and waving his shotgun at spectators. "Does anyone know where Harvey is?"

"That's the woman from the report…"

"So she _is_ working with The Joker. I knew it."

Queen looked at a couple near her, who were muttering things to each other. She wagged her gun at them. "Keep it to yourselves. Don't go assuming things that aren't true. I just started working with him tonight, so shut up." The woman whimpered slightly, and the man next to her wrapped his arm defensively around her waist, glaring at Queen. She quirked an eyebrow. "What? It's not like I'm gonna _steal_ her from you. Geez. I'm holding you a _gun_point, not….uh, Nevermind."

"Enough!" Shouted a female voice that echoed throughout the party hall. Queen looked over to where it came from (noticing for a moment that The Joker was holding the head of an old man, sticking his knife/potato peeler in the poor guys face), and saw a pretty brunette woman in a green dress, standing bravely outside the crowd.

"Well, hello _bea_utiful!" The Joker sang, shoving the old man to the side and strutting over to the woman. He licked his lips. "You must be Harvey's _squeeze_. And you _are_ beautiful…" Queen rolled her eyes a bit as he sized the woman up, and waved her gun at some guests who were making an attempt to sneak away.

"Hey! Stay where you are unless you want a bullet for your thoughts," She said, stopping the guests in their tracks. She felt a bit aggravated at the moment, but decided to push that back for the time being. She'd only end up killing someone if she let it get to her.

"I had a wife, and she was beautiful, just like you," Queen heard the Joker say. She listened as he continued to tell the story of his gambling wife, who 'got in deep' and got her face carved in.

Queen made a face as she listened. No doubt he was lying, but he sure as hell was convincing.

"So, I stuck a razor in my mouth, and did this to myself," Queen shuddered, her sadistic side rising to the surface again. Damnit, she needed to stop finding things like that arousing.

She shook her head a bit, pushing any dirty thoughts to the side as she heard commotion arise over where The Joker was…er, had been.

Queen was shoved back as The Joker's back collided with her. "Woah!" She exclaimed as she stumbled. One of the thugs was tossed back and skidded to a stop at her feet.

Looking up, Queen saw Batman beating the shit out of all the thugs (which The Joker threw at him to shield himself. What a wonderful man). She raised her gun and pulled the trigger, frowning as no bullet escaped the barrel.

Shit! The safety was on! What the hell!?

Queen was in the air and flying into the champagne table before she could realize Batman was within arms reach of her. The table and glasses grave way beneath her weight and she ended up on the ground, shards of glass embedded in her back with wine seeping into the wounds. She clenched her jaw tightly in pain.

She forced herself up, ignoring the other pieces of glass that dug into her palms, and looked at The Joker, who was now near a window, dangling the brunette woman outside.

"Let her go!" Shouted Batman. Joker smirked and did just that, releasing the woman and letting her slide down the glass to the street below. Batman lunged out the window, shouting 'Rachel!' as he went.

The Joker watched them fall for a moment, before turning and walking away from the window. The guests scurried away from him as he neared Queen.

"Ouch," He said, looking at her surrounded by blood, alcohol and glass.

"Damn right ouch," She said, "Help me up."

"By all means," He reached out and yanked her up, ignoring her protests of 'Ow ow ow ow! _Injured_!'

"We leaving?" She asked, clinging to The Joker's shoulder for support so she didn't fall over.

"Well, I _figured_ with your condition we should go. But of _cour_se, if you'd rather stay and bleed to death, be my gues—"

"A simple 'yes' would have sufficed." Queen cut The Joker's sarcastic remark off, smirking through a grimace. The Joker laughed.

They departed towards the elevator. "Great party," Joker stated to the guests as the doors opened.

"Oh!" Queen quickly made her way back to the table she landed on.

"Wha--…where _are _you _go_ing?" Joker asked. Queen snatched up her crown and limped back to him, raising the yellow piece of plastic in the air as his answer.

Once Queen was back in the elevator, Joker pushed the button to the lobby, and the doors slid closed.

"Wait, aren't we gonna get the thugs?" Queen asked.

"Nope."


	6. The Scars

_I know Queen seems to be getting more and more Mary-Sue-ish as this story goes on _D: _I'm sorry_

* * *

**6**

**The Scars**

Returning to whatever building The Joker resided in, he and Queen entered calmly, despite all the commotion and problems they caused at the party a few minutes before.

"Sit, sit, sit," The Joker commanded, waving Queen over to a chair at the other end of the room. She obeyed and made her way over, falling onto the chair and jolting forward as she accidentally pressed her back against the back of it. She leaned forward, making sure not to do that again, and began picking the shards of glass out of her palms.

The Joker almost pranced back into the room, holding a filthy looking rag in his hand. Queen frowned, eyeing the rag unhappily. She didn't want that thing anywhere _near_ her wound!

"Do you really expect me to use _that_ to clean my injury?" She asked. The Joker shook his head, grinning.

"Of course not!" He said, "I expect _me_ to use this to clean your injur_y_!" Queen quirked an eyebrow.

"You?"

"Yes, _me_," Joker replied, giving her a look. "You can't clean an injury on your back on your _own_, now can you?" Queen blinked, he had a point. He drew a circle in the air with his finger. "Turn _around_."

Queen sighed and did so, slinging her legs on either side of the chair's back.

"Hair," The Joker said. She pulled her hair over her shoulder and waited. She heard The Joker sigh behind her.

"It's like you've never had a _woun_d on your back before. Lift your shir_t_." Queen rolled her eyes and did so, making sure to keep it low in front as to not show off anything (not that it mattered, since he wouldn't see anyway).

"Ooh," Joker said, eyeing her back with interest. She looked over her shoulder slightly.

"That bad?" She asked. He shook his head

"You have a _scar_ here," He said, poking the scarred skin. She jolted, arching her back away from him.

"Yes, I do," She said through gritted teeth. "But _please_ don't touch it while I have _glass_ sticking out of my back!" He laughed.

"Yes, yes," He said, plucking a shard of glass roughly out of her skin, gaining a sharp gasp from her.

"_Gentle_!" She complained.

"Stop _moving_," He insisted, and Queen complied. She winced every so often, but more or less stayed still for the next few minutes as Joker pulled the glass out and wiped the blood away (and Queen was sure the rag didn't do anything).

"_There_ we go, _fini_she_d_!" He sang. Queen looked at him.

"Huh? No bandages?" She asked. The Joker shrugged.

"Don't have an_y_," He stated. Queen rolled her eyes. It figured. She lowered her shirt and winced as the fabric passed over her torn skin.

"So the_n_, how _did _you get this _scar_?" Joker asked, poking her back again. She gasped and glared at him.

"_Enough with the poking_," She hissed. He raised his hands in apology, but prodded with his eyes for her to answer. She sighed slightly and turned around in her chair.

"My dad gave it to me," She said, flicking some of her hair away from her face, "He was crazy, but since I never saw my mom, I had to live with him. I'd always ask him 'where mommy was', and the story would always change. On Christmas, she didn't love him anymore and lived in California. On Easter, she was on a business trip. On my birthday, she was in the hospital. So, when he tells me she's in the hospital, I decide to play along."

She sighed and continued, "A few days later I ask him if she was feeling any better, if we could visit her. And he snaps. 'Why are you always asking about mommy?' he shouts. 'Do you not love daddy anymore? Because daddy loves you!' He decides to grab the letter opener off the table, for whatever reason, and he lunges at me, knocks me down on my stomach, and _drives_ the knife _into my back_. He keeps screaming 'I love you, I love you!' over and over again. I was lucky enough that the neighbors didn't like us, and called the police for 'disturbing the peace'." She gave a slight chuckle at the memory of her crabby neighbors.

"So, the police come, he's tried for attempted murder. But of course, he's insane, so they send him to an asylum. I ended up living with my grandmother, and having a giant heart scarred on my back for life." Queen looked at The Joker, who simply sat there, legs crossed, and hands folded in his lap.

"So yeah," She said, feeling a bit awkward and angsty. "That was when I was like…seven, though. A good 20 years ago. So I've gotten over it, more or less." The Joker nodded.

"And where's your father _now_?" He asked. Queen frowned. He sure had a way with digging into someone's head and bringing up their worst memories.

"Buried in a ditch somewhere, probably," She said. "I killed him a _long_ time ago, when he escaped from the asylum." The Joker nodded again, as if he was a therapist.

"...Do _y_ou wanna _know_ how I got _these_ scars?" He asked, pointed to crimson painted scars on his face. Queen blinked.

"…I guess," She said, though he'd probably lie about this story as he had done earlier. "A gruesome story for a gruesome story." The Joker nodded once again, and in a second was right in front Queen, holding her hair in his fist and positioning a knife in her mouth. She jumped, backing away and pressing her back against the chair (despite the pain it caused).

"Ah, ah, ah," Joker said. "Stay still." Queen furrowed her brow, but did so. The Joker nodded for the fourth time, and muttered a 'good girl', before speaking.

"I had a teacher once," He said, licking his lips. "He and I were _good_ friends. _Very_ close. He taught me everything, and told me _eve-ry-thing_. Eventually, we were just like _brothers_. He always told me that I should _smile_, because frowning made me look sad, and he didn't_ want_ me to be sad." He licked his lips again, making Queen feel a bit uncomfortable (his tongue _that_ close to her face? Kinda awkward).

"He told me he was _ma_rried, and he _loved_ her _so_ very mu_ch_. I _ne_ver liked her, though. She always seemed…_off_, somehow. So, one day, he comes to me, pale, crying, holding a knife, and _covered_ in bloo_d_. 'She _cheated_ on me' he says. 'She _never_ loved me.' Then, he tells me he loved her _too_ much, and he couldn't _stand_ to see her with _any_one besides himself. So, he _killed_ her." She heard the emotion swell in his voice, but she couldn't say the same for his eyes, which were as empty as they always were.

"And I just _couldn't_ look at him. I couldn't _bear_ to think of him as a murderer. But, he _begs_ me to look at him, _begs_ me to smile because he can never smile again. But I just _couldn't_. So, he grabs me, sobbing, and sticks the knife in my mouth. 'You _have_ to smile!' he says, and does this," The Joker motioned to his scars. "He, of course, is _executed_ for murder. And, _right_ until he _die_s, he's crying. He apologizes to me, _begs_ for me to _forgive_ him for turning me into a _freak_. And I _ne_ver got to tell him that I _do_ forgive him. And I _never_ will."

Queen blinked, staring at The Joker, not sure if he was lying or not. "I'm sorry…about that…" She said, wincing as her tongue was cut by the knife in her mouth. The Joker laughed.

"Oh, no, no, no," He said, moving away from her and removing the knife from her mouth. "Now, there is _no_thing for _you_ to be sorry about!" He grinned, and Queen was now almost positive he was lying. She nodded.

"I know," She said, fixing her crown atop her head and wincing as the cold plastic met with her burning wounds. Thinking about that, she finally realized the pain in her back and lurched forward. "Ow…!" She muttered, standing up. She didn't want to do that a _third_ time.

Queen looked over her shoulder at her wounds to the best of her ability without causing herself pain.

"Hn...Batman kinda over did it…" She muttered, frowning at the red stains spotting the back of her shirt (luckily, however, her shirt was red as well, so they weren't very noticeable). "Seriously, throwing me into a table of glass and wine? I _think_ a punch to the stomach would have worked just as well, and he wouldn't have to pay for repairs!"

Queen didn't know if The Joker was listening to her or not, but she was talking to herself anyway, so it didn't matter. "Though, I guess it's partly my own fault for not remembering putting my gun on safety…" Behind her, The Joker laughed, signaling he was indeed listening to her.

"Oh, no, _darling_," He giggled, emphasizing 'darling'. "You didn't put your gun on safety. I did!"

Queen blinked at him. "…Why?"

"I wanted to see if you'd notice!" He giggled again. "But it turned out worse than I expected. Of course, what fun is it if everything goes exactly as planned?" Queen pinched the bridge of her nose. So it was _his_ fault that she had numerous wine-filled wounds on her back!

"Just dandy," She said, laughing slightly. She raised her eyes to look at him, a saw that he was grinning obliviously, not sorry in the least. She rolled her eyes. "Well, I _forgive_ you," She said sarcastically. The Joker grinned wider, and turned to prance out of the room. He stopped, however, and extended his arm to point at the couch on the other side of the room.

"Ah ye_s_, you can sleep _the_re," He stated, before resuming prancing out the door. Queen looked at the couch, and made her way to it, wincing again at the large amount of pain burning her back. At this rate, she'd die of blood loss…

She stopped as she went to sit down, looking at small red splotches on the faded-yellow fabric of the couch cushions.

Blood.

She frowned; it figures there'd be blood on her 'bed'. Sighing, Queen sat down anyway. Her wound would only create more bloodstains on the couch, there was no point in staying off of it because of a little blood drop from someone else.

In truth, she was exhausted, but she didn't feel like sleeping. So, instead, Queen took a closer look at the room she was in.

In front of her, (as in, across from the couch) was a pool table, with one or two chairs sitting nearby it (one of which she had been sitting in previously). A chandelier hung on the ceiling outside of the doorway, and cast light into the otherwise fairly dark room. It was a nice place, considering it was where The Joker himself 'lived'.

He probably stole it from the mob, as he had done with money in the mob-run bank a few weeks prior. Not that Queen was complaining. She stole her previous lodgings from an innocent gentleman before.

She shrugged (quickly regretting it, though), and laid down on her stomach, slowly allowing her eyes to drift closed.


	7. The Chase

**7**

**The Chase**

A few days passed with little action. The Joker had indeed kept his word and killed someone each night, since Batman had yet to remove his mask and reveal his identity. Queen had questioned whether or not he had killed anyone on the night of the party, seeing as he didn't kill the woman (Rachel Dawes, her name was), only to find out he had killed a Judge who put many members of the mob away, and a Commissioner by the name of Gillian B. Loeb. She was impressed he had set up the traps to kill them in such little time.

The days following, however, The Joker had killed three people. Two men named Richard Dent and Patrick Harvey, as well as Lieutenant James Gordon, who had jumped in the way when Joker tried to kill the Mayor.

Queen had also been impressed with how that situation played out. The Joker had managed to blend in perfectly with the firing squad (of course, by removing his make-up. She also noted that he had quite the nice, delightfully evil-looking face, despite his scars), and even get away unnoticed.

Not to mention, Batman took most of the blame. It was brilliant!

Now, after all that was said and done, however, Harvey Dent, in an interesting turn of events, announced that _he_ was the Batman, much to The Joker's interest.

"Aah, that makes sen_se_," He said, grinning, his re-done make-up giving his smile an exceedingly eerie feel to it, "If Batman _was_ Dent all this time, that would _ex_plain why he _leapt_ after that Rachel girl." He chuckled happily, licking his lips.

"Hmn…" Queen wasn't convinced, "I guess…" The Joker looked at her.

"Wh_y_ so _se_riou_s_?" He said, almost mockingly. Queen smirked, having heard one of the thugs mention him saying something like that to their former boss during one of his 'scar' stories.

"I don't think Dent is Batman…" She stated. The Joker clicked his tongue.

"Oh?" He asked, "_An_d wh_y_ is tha_t_?" Queen shrugged.

"It doesn't seem right, for some reason," She said, staring at the report on the television as Harvey was cuffed and taken away.

"_We_ll then," The Joker leaned forward in his seat, grinning that Cheshire grin of his. "Le_t's_ see for our_sel_ves, shall we?" Queen looked at him quizzically.

"This'll be good," She chuckled, "How?"

"I'm no_t_ a man of _plans_, my dar_ling_," He said, looking out the window to a parked truck that had the words 'LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE' written on the side, "Let's just _wing_ it!"

* * *

The bullet from The Joker's bazooka exploded through a police car, making the SWAT car holding Harvey Dent swerve to avoid crashing. He giggled in maniacal glee at the weapon in his hands, and fired another shot.

Queen grasped the door of the truck tightly, making a poor attempt to stand up straight in the very fast moving vehicle. She raised her arm, fighting against the strong wind whipping by her, and pulled the trigger of the gun she held, causing numerous bullets to erupt from the barrel, hitting the side of the SWAT truck but not breaking the surface.

The recoil made her lose her balance and fall back, hitting her back hard on the metal floor of the truck. She heard The Joker laugh at her as he fired another shot from the bazooka, which was blocked by an oddly-shaped black car.

"Having difficulty?" He asked. Queen frowned and nodded.

"Yeah," She replied. The truck suddenly jerked to a stop, causing the door on the side to slide closed, revealing the words 'LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE', with a red 'S' spray painted at the beginning.

The Joker frowned a bit and climbed into the front seat, muttering 'Harvey, Harvey, Harvey Dent' beneath his breath. He pushed the driver out of the door and took his place at the wheel. Queen stood up to see what was happening, why the truck suddenly stopped, but she was quickly knocked off her feet again as the truck started moving, at an even higher speed than before.

Queen heaved an aggravated sigh and tried to get up again, clinging to the front seat to do so. She looked out the windshield, watching as the SWAT car before them tried desperately to get away. She heard Joker say something about liking his job, and chanting 'Rack 'em up' into a walkie-talkie.  
Further down the street, a helicopter flew towards them, but got caught on something and spun out of control to the ground. It burst into flames and collided with the SWAT truck. The Joker burst into hysterical laughter at the scene. Queen smacked her palm to her forehead, but laughed nonetheless.

As she raised her head again, she saw a black motorcycle escape from an alley up ahead, with a man in black sitting atop it.

Batman.

The Joker grinned evilly as Batman began speeding towards the truck. Queen stared intensely at the black cycle coming at them, until it swerved to the side suddenly. The Joker looked out the window curiously.

"He missed!" he shouted in confusion. Queen went to look out the window as well, but she was knocked back quickly as the truck lurched. She clutched the seat in front of her as gravity seemed to disappear, and the truck flipped over. The top was ripped open by the pavement, and Queen and the Joker hit the roof hard.

Her vision was blurry and spotted in black, but Queen could just barely see The Joker climbing out the window, machine gun in hand. She closed her eyes tightly as he head swam, trying hard to find her senses again. She could feel a warm liquid pooling around her head, so she assumed she had cracked open her skull from the impact.

Queen groaned, and forced herself up. Once she was in a seated position, she touched her face and looked at her hand. Sure enough, there was blood.

She felt her head, looking for the spot where her skull was fractured, but found nothing. She frowned and looked down; the pool of blood was real enough. She followed the red liquids trail, and saw that it was from one of the thugs.

"Ah," She muttered, wincing a bit. Her head did hurt, even if it wasn't fractured. She assumed she was getting a terrible headache from all this.

Queen moved to get out of the truck, but stopped when something crashed against the metal of the sides. She scrambled back, and grabbed her gun, pointing it at where the impact had sounded from. She waited, but nothing happened. Slowly, she lowered her gun and moved to look out of one of the tears in the metal. She frowned as she saw someone holding The Joker at gunpoint.

Searching for the face of the armed man, Queen saw it was…Gordon?

"What? You're dead…!" She whispered, ducking away as Gordon looked towards her.

The Joker was pushed into the SWAT car in place of Harvey Dent, who was, shockingly, _not_ Batman after all. The thugs (that were still alive) were loaded into a different car, and Queen managed to sneak away as the GPD searched the truck. She noticed Harvey Dent being mauled by the press, flashing lights from cameras silhouetting his image for brief second. Nearby him was a black car, chauffeured by a bald man. Queen smirked a bit, and made her way to the car. She pulled open the door to the passenger seat, and the chauffeur looked at her curiously.

"May I help you, ma'am?" He asked, before realizing who she was. Queen lunged into the car quickly and knocked the man unconscious with the butt of her gun. She quickly donned his jacket and hat, and dragged his unconscious body into an alleyway. She half expected to be caught by the police, but amazingly they were too wrapped up in taking The Joker away to notice her.

"Hey, Queen," Muttered someone. Queen whipped around and pointed her gun at a man with ruffled black hair. He raised his hands in front of him. "I-it's me! The police didn't notice me once I took off my mask and…"

Queen furrowed her brow, recognizing this man. She made an 'o' shape with her mouth once she remembered, he was one of the thugs she had seen without his mask before. "Ah, sorry," She said, lowering her gun and creeping back to the car.

"What are you doing…?" The thug asked, following her.

"Getting Harvey Dent, of course," She replied, climbing into the driver's seat through the passenger seat door, "Get in shotgun; I'll need more than two arms to do this."

* * *

_It's short again, I'm sorry _D:


	8. The Capture and Escape

_I'd like to take this time to thank all of you kind reviewers! _:D_ KymmV, BananaRamama, Audrey Kasm, and Poisonrunningthrewmyveins! Thank you all so much!  
And thank you to all of you who are reading, too! _:D

_I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

* * *

**8**

**The Capture and Escape**

As Harvey Dent climbed into the car, he muttered the words "I have a date with a very upset girlfriend" to a female detective outside. He leaned forward a bit as he closed the door, opening his mouth to tell the driver where to take him, when a gun was pointed to his head.

"Well, hello, Mr. Dent," Said Queen as she pushed the gas petal and drove the car far away from the police and reporters, "I don't believe we've met." Harvey's face grew grim as he stared at the man wearing a clown mask pointing a gun to his forehead.

"You're working with The Joker," He stated more than asked.

"Very observant!" Queen sang, coming to a stop at a stop light and turning around to look at Harvey. Her red-brown hair was pulled up into the black hat she wore, and her crown was seated on the dashboard. "It's nice to meet you too. Queen of Hearts, as you should know." She extended her hand to him, but he simply glared at her.

"The light's green…" muttered the thug in the passenger seat. Queen shrugged and turned back around, stepping on the gas and driving off again.

"Now, I heard you say you had a date with an 'upset girlfriend'?" She said, noticing Harvey tense in the rearview mirror, "That's wouldn't be…Miss Dawes, would it?"

"What have you done with her?" Harvey barked with rage. Queen laughed.

"Nothing, yet," She said, "I'd like you to tell me where she is, though."

"Don't you _dare_ touch her!" He roared.

"Wimpy," Queen sternly spoke the thug's nickname, and he cocked his gun, making Harvey back up, "I assume that means you don't know where she is? Too bad. I was hoping this'd be easy, but…" The car stopped suddenly and she whipped her arm around to hit Harvey in the head, but he blocked the shot. Wimpy hit him with his gun, knocking him unconscious.

"Very good. Tie 'im up," Queen ordered, turning a corner, "No, wait! Don't, that'll tip what's-her-face off. Make it look like he's still conscious."

* * *

Rachel Dawes looked at the black car that slowed to a stop in front of her. She figured Harvey would come to her once the press realized he wasn't Batman.

A woman stepped out of the driver's seat, keeping her head downcast, and her hat low to cover her eyes. She walked around and touched the handle of the backseat door.

"Mr. Dent is truly sorry, Miss Dawes," She spoke, her voice heartfelt. "He never meant to upset you; he wanted the best for Gotham, I'm sure you know."

Rachel clicked her tongue, "Of course I know that." She climbed into the back seat and looked at Harvey, who was facing the window.

"Harvey," She cooed, reaching over and touching his shoulder. He didn't move. She frowned slightly. "Harvey…" She leaned over, and saw his eyes were closed and his head was slumped to the side.

"…Harvey? Harvey, what's wrong?" Rachel looked to the front seat in a slight panic, watching as the woman took off her hat and allowed her red-brown hair to cascade down her shoulders.

"Don't worry, _Miss Dawes_," Queen said as she put on her crown, "He's just taking a nap." Rachel jumped as Wimpy pointed his gun at her. "We didn't hurt him, I promise."

"…You're with The Joker…aren't you?" Rachel asked, furrowing her brow.

"Is it truly that obvious?" Queen asked, speeding through a red light, "But yes, I am." She turned into a deserted parking lot outside of an old Oil Refinery and stopped the car. She grabbed her gun out from beneath her seat and pointed it at Rachel's head.

"Wimpy, get Dent," She ordered, and the thug complied, climbing out the passenger side door. Rachel looked between Queen and Wimpy, who was walking around the car. He pulled open the door and yanked Harvey out, throwing him over his shoulder with some effort.

Rachel went to pull Harvey back to her, but Queen cocked her gun and stopped her. "Don't move," She ordered. Rachel backed away as Wimpy kicked the door closed.

"Where is he taking Harvey?" She asked defensively.

"Into the Oil Refinery, obviously," Queen replied.

"Why? What are you going to do to him?"

"You ask a lot of questions. It wouldn't be any fun if I told you," Queen said, waving her gun dismissively. Rachel clenched her jaw, looking towards the Refinery, were Wimpy and Harvey has already disappeared.

Minutes passed in silence as Queen stared hard at Rachel, holding her gun steady. She was beginning to become impatient.

"_Hurry it up, Wimpy,_" She thought, sending a quick glance at the Refinery doors.

"What is he doing?" Rachel asked, demanding to know.

"Chopping him into little pieces and making him into chili," Queen replied sarcastically. "Look, you're trying my patience with all the questions. Just keep quiet and be a GOOD hostage, okay?" Rachel frowned, and looked towards the door as Wimpy pulled it open and climbed in the passenger seat.

"He tied up?" Queen asked.

"Yeah, boss," Wimpy replied quietly, closing the door. Queen looked at him gleefully.

"Did you just call me 'boss'?" She asked. Wimpy nodded slowly, and Queen giggled with joy.

"He called me _boss_!" She giggled to Rachel, who simply stared in silence. Queen calmed down and pointed her gun at Wimpy, who trembled and backed away.

"As much as I'd love to be called that again," She said, "You've done your part." She pulled the trigger, and Wimpy's brains splattered unattractively on the tinted windows.

Rachel screamed in fear at the sight, tearing Queen's last nerve. She swung her fist back and slammed it into the side of Rachel's head, knocking hr unconscious.

"You are one _annoying_ woman," She muttered hatefully, "I really hope they save Harvey instead of you…"

Queen turned the keys in the ignition and drove off, taking a short detour through a dirty alley and dumping Wimpy's body, then heading off to another Oil Refinery.

Once she arrived, Queen made a quick job of dragging Rachel in and tying her up. However, when she was setting up the phone-bomb-thing The Joker had told her to set up some time before, Rachel woke up.

"Where am I?" She asked frantically. Queen rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh, turning around to face her.  
"Look around, take a guess," She said. Rachel glanced around for a second, before darting her eyes back to Queen, who was fiddling with the phone-bomb.

"What is that…?" Rachel asked. Queen pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

"It's a little device that will allow you to talk to your darling Harvey until one of you explodes." Rachel's eyes widened. "Yes! There is a bomb, don't you ask!"

"Wait, please…" Rachel begged, "Don't hurt Harvey…Do what you want to me, but please don't hurt Harvey…!"

"Ew," Queen muttered at her 'do what you want to me' comment, "Don't worry. _I_ won't hurt Harvey. The bomb, however…"

"Please—"

"How many friends do you have?" Queen interrupted.

"Huh?"

"Harvey is a district attorney; he's put hundreds of criminals away, and is loved and respected by probably all of Gotham. Besides the criminals, of course. But you? You're just the attorney's girlfriend," Queen smirked, "Your _friends_ will choose who lives and who…" She spread her hands out. "Goes boom."

She turned back to the phone-bomb, and clicked a button. Red numbers flashed on the clock, reading 5:00, and began counting down.

"Let's hope it's soon," Queen said, turning to leave. "Not much time."

She exited the building, happy to have Rachel out of her hair, got into the car, and drove off to the Gotham Prison.

If she was correct, The Joker was just about to get his phone call.

* * *

As her car neared the prison, Queen saw a bright flash of orange fire, that quickly dwindled down to a faint glow against the black sky.

She stopped in front of the burning prison, watching the fire flicker. She removed the keys from the ignition and stepped out of the car, leaning against it to wait. She ran a hand through her knotted hair and frowned at the blood that stained her fingers. Her red-brown hair was now dyed crimson with all the blood it had come in contact with.

Glancing up, Queen saw a figure exiting the prison. She ducked into the shadows in case it wasn't The Joker. However, these concerns were quickly dismissed once she got a good look at the familiar head of vomit-green hair, paired with a bright green vest and purple pants.

She escaped the shadows and waved a bit at him. "Need a ride?" She asked. The Joker looked her way. He seemed tired and beaten, no doubt the 'good cop, batman' routine was put into play. He grinned, nonetheless. Queen looked on in confusion as The Joker turned and walked toward a police car—with someone following him like a lost puppy—waving his arms to tell her to come over. She blinked, but did so, walking around to the driver's seat. Before she could get in, though, The Joker took her place.

"I wanna drive," He stated. Before he was fully in the car, he looked toward the man who was following him, Who Queen now saw was of Asian decent, and spoke the words "In the back" to him. Queen was silent for a moment, then she shrugged and moved to walk around the car, deciding not to bother asking who the man was. Before she made it passed the door, however, The Joker grabbed the front of her shirt and yanked her in, pushing her over him into the passenger seat.

"No need to be so _formal_," He grinned at her as she sat up and rubbed her head. He paused for a moment, and pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. "Hold this." He said. Queen took it and quirked an eyebrow in confusion.

Before she could ask, The Joker started the car and immediately sped off onto the empty street. Queen clutched the side of her seat and hurriedly put on her seat belt.

"_Where_ did you learn how to drive?" She asked, glancing back to the man in the back seat, who seemed very out of it. The Joker removed his hand from the steering wheel, his other hand not keeping much of a grip on it, and put a finger to his chin thoughtfully. Queen jumped and grabbed the steering wheel as the car began to swerve.

"I don't remember!" Joker laughed as he swatted Queen's hand away, resuming control of the wheel. "I may have taught myself!" Queen smacked her palm to her forehead. Once this was all said and done, she'd probably never drive or get in a car again. She looked up, and shouted as The Joker leaned out the window, completely letting go of the wheel. She undid her seat belt and lunged over to catch the wheel and keep the car from crashing into a stop sign. The Joker shook his head as he continued to lean out the window, seemingly taking in the freedom. Queen sighed heavily.

"Where are we going?" She asked, seeing that if she was going to be driving, she should know where to go. The Joker grinned at that question, though Queen couldn't see it.

"I have a meeting I want to get to," He replied, "Turn!"

"Which way?"

"Right!" Queen took a sharp turn, and kept driving.


	9. The Explosion

_Chapter 9 everyone!_ :D _There're tiny bits and pieces of Joker/Queen fanservice in this chapter too! Wheehehe  
Hope you enjoy it!_

* * *

**9**

**The Explosion**

It was day by the time to two got to the warehouse (since The Joker decided to put it off until the next day and return to his hideout/base/place of residence). The Joker had done the driving all the way there, making Queen incredibly panicky and causing her to have a difficult time keeping down the food she never ate.

They entered the ugly looking warehouse, the Asian man, who Queen discovered was named Lau, following close behind. The inside wasn't as ugly as the outside, or maybe that was just the huge pile of money in the middle.

The Joker whistled at the mountain of cash, sending a quick glance to the thugs that were nearby, and climbed up. Queen watched with amusement as he knocked some of the dollar bills to the ground to get to the top. Once he did, he stood straight and looked around. Queen laughed, which gained his attention.

The Joker stared down at her, and, feeling his gaze, she returned the favor. He smirked.

"Grea_t_ view up _he_re," He stated. Queen blinked and followed his eyes, realizing that he could probably see right down her shirt. She chuckled and crossed her arms over her chest, blocking his view.

"Sorry, show's over," She said. The Joker pouted playfully.

"Too la_te_ to RSVP for the next _sho_wing?" He grinned, winking at her. She laughed.

"You'd have to hurry."

The Joker laughed as well and looked down to Lau, who stood near the door. "Wha_t_ are you _do_ing?" He asked. "Dong, come on _up_! Up, up, _up_!"

"My name is Lau…" He quietly retorted, doing as he was instructed and climbing the mountain of money. The Joker laid down, disappearing out of Queen's sight. Lau, however, only sat down, still very visible, and not daring to get too close to the scarred psycho next to him.

"Now stay there," The Joker ordered, and Lau dare not disobey.

Numerous men, led by a very Italian looking mobster, entered the door, gaining Queen's attention.

"Not you as crazy as you look," He said to Joker, who in turn stood back up and slid down the pile of money (which Queen thought looked very fun).

"I _told_ you, I'm a man of my _word_," He said, throwing handfuls of money up at Lau, who didn't move.

The Italian said something, but Queen could only make out 'what you do with all your money?' through his thick accent.

"Yeah," Joker said. "Ya' know, I'm a man of _sim_ple taste. I like _dy_namite. _Gun_powder." He paused for a moment, then raised his voice to cue off one of the thugs near Queen. "And _gasoline_!"

The thug dumped a large drum of gasoline onto the dollar bills. The Italian man took a step to stop him, but The Joker, as well as Queen, raised his gun to him, stopping him in his tracks.

"And you know what they _all_ have in _common_?" Joker asked, walking closer to the man. "They're all _cheap_." The man lit a cigar in agitation, sticking it in his mouth and taking a drag. He said something along the lines of 'man of your word', but Queen still couldn't understand him.

"Oh, yeah," The Joker replied, plucking the cigar form the man's mouth, "I'm only burning my half." He flicked the cigar onto the gasoline soaked money, setting it ablaze, with Lau still on top. The Italian man stared at the burning money in despair.

"_All_ you _ca_re about is _money_," The Joker said unhappily, "This _tow_n deserves a _better_ class of _crimi_nal. And I'm…" He paused, glancing back to Queen for a second. He smirked, "_We're_ gonna give it to them!"

Queen quirked an interested eyebrow at that statement. 'We're'? What was that supposed to mean?

"Tell your men they work for _me_ now," He hissed, "This is _my_—_our_ city." Queen mentally did a double take. _Our_ _city_? She couldn't believe it!

The Italian man glared at The Joker. "Dey won't work for-a a _freak_!" He spat. The Joker retrieved his potato-peeler/knife from his jacket and waved it in the mans face.

"Well _may_be we should cut you into _li_ttle pieces and feed ya' to your _pooches_!" Queen laughed into her hand at how the word 'pooches' sounded coming out of his mouth. "_Then_ we'll see how loyal a _hun_gry dog _really_ is!" The Italian man was dragged towards the sound of hungry barking by the two men that stood behind him. The Joker seemed a bit aggravated.

"It _isn't_ about _money_," He said, putting his knife away, "It's about _send_ing a _message_!" He paused and looked to the burning pile of money.

"Everything burns!"

Queen looked at him quizzically as he turned to her and reached out his hand. "Phone," He said. It took a moment for Queen to realize what he meant, but once she did she hurriedly removed the cell phone from her pocket and handed it to him. He dialed something and turned away, talking into the receiver after a moment.

"I had a _vision_ of a world _without_ Batman," He spoke, "The mob ground out a _li_ttle profit and the police tried to shut them down. And it was _so_…"

He paused, trying to find the right word, and looked to Queen, who shrugged and mouthed 'boring'. He grinned.

"Boring. Now I _don_'t want Reese to _spoil_ everything, but why should _I_ have all the _fun_? Let's give _every_one _else_ a chan_ce_! If _Coleman Reese_ isn't _dead_ in _sixty_ minutes, I'll _blow up _a_ hospital._" Without another word, The Joker clicked the phone closed and began to walk away. Queen quickly followed him.

"Where're we going?" She asked as he shoved the cell phone into her hands. She didn't bother to ask who it was he walk talking to.

"Gotham General," He said, grinning, "Harvey Dent is there, after all!"

"Harvey? How do you know he's at Gotham General?" She asked, furrowing her brow.

The Joker winked, "I have my ways, _darling_." Queen was skeptical at first, but decided to shrug it off, remembering something better to ask.

"Hey…" She began, gaining The Joker's attention, "You said '_we_' would give Gotham a better 'class of criminal', right?"

The Joker blinked at her, "…Yeah."

"Were you serious?" Queen folded her arms, demanding an answer. "I mean, I thought you were gonna kill me once I got boring." The Joker chuckled at her like she was a naïve child. He moved closer to her and reached his hand up. She twitched away as his hand neared her face, and he pouted a bit, quickly grabbing her hair and keeping her in place.

"Now," He cooed, his terrible smelling breath brushing against Queen's face, "I definitely _have_ thought of _kill_ing you, _darling_. But right now you are still _use_ful. Not to _mention_, you _liven_ things up!" He released his hold on her hair, but still held her head still. Queen winced as he licked his lips, his tongue coming _far_ too close to her face. He grinned again.

"Your time will come one day, _Queen_," He said, "Until _then_, you just _keep_ being _amus_ing." Letting go of her hair, The Joker patted her cheek and walked over to the black car that belonged to the Italian Mobster, hopping in the already unlocked doors. Queen didn't move for a moment, making an attempt to absorb what he said. She was pulled from her thoughts, however, when The Joker honked the horn at her.

"Get _in_," He called, and Queen quickly did so, her bearings regained. She slid into the passenger's seat and buckled her seat belt, in case Joker had another fit of road rage. She paused, thinking of something.

"I have another question," She said. The Joker seemed slightly put off by that, but he nodded anyway. "If I'm the _Queen_, and you're the _Joker_, wouldn't that make you my sla—"

"Don't even think about it," The Joker said, looking at her with a slightly malicious grin. She laughed and nodded as he started the car.

Apparently, he stole the keys from the Italian before he was turned into dog food.

He sped off away from the warehouse, and towards Gotham General.

* * *

Standing outside the hospital, Queen watched as the first explosion erupted from the back of the building, rattling the ground she stood on. The news reporters standing nearby her shouted and hurried into the bus next to them. The last, however, stopped and turned to Queen.

"Come on!" He said to her. "Get in!"

Queen brushed a strand of hair, rebelling against the bun the rest of her hair was pulled into, and put a hand up to silence the reporter as she saw a familiar head of vomit-green hair exit the hospital in a nurse uniform.

"Wait," She said to the reporter. "There's a nurse just exiting the building. We have to get her too." The reporter nodded and turned to the bus driver, telling him not to leave yet.

She walked onto the bus, hurrying to the back and sitting next to the emergency door. She watched through the window as The Joker fiddled with a detonator when the rest of the hospital failed to explode.

Once the explosions began again, The Joker jumped into the back of the bus through the emergency door and gave a thumbs-up to the driver, who quickly drove off.

"Workin' that nurse outfit, aren't you?" Queen teased, wrapping the purple jacket—The Joker's jacket—further around herself so it didn't feel so loose. He grinned at her and fixed his hair flamboyantly.

"Looks _good_ on me _does_n't it?" He chirped.

"Ma'am," Said the reporter Queen spoke to earlier, talking to The Joker, apparently not noticing that he wasn't a 'ma'am', "Ma'am, are you alright?"

"Oooh, _yes_," The Joker sang, pulling a gun out from God knows where and pointing it at the reporter's chest. "I'm _fine_. Thank you for _asking_!" The reporter froze, terrified, just realizing that the 'nurse' was really The Joker in drag. He opened his mouth to scream.

"Now, now," Queen said, yanking him forward and sticking a gun in his mouth, "Stay quiet, we can't cause a scene." The Joker giggled maniacally and opened the back door of the bus as they came to a stoplight.

"Come with _me_!" He said, dragging the reporter out the door to the empty road, no doubt cleared by the GPD. Queen quickly hopped off after them, closing the door, amazed that no one noticed their departure.

The Joker noticed a car nearby, abandoned when the hospital blew, and pushed the reporter into the already opened door. Queen slid into the driver's seat, and Joker gave her a look.

"I'm driving this time," She said, putting her hands on the wheel. The Joker pouted slightly, but got into the passenger seat anyway. "Where are we going?" She asked, turning the keys that were left in the ignition.

"_Any_where with a _cam_era!" The Joker said, slamming the door closed with a grin. Queen nodded, knowing just the place.

* * *

"Go _faster_!" The Joker whined as Queen drove at the speed limit, determined to not draw suspicion from all the police in the area.

"Hell no," She said, turning a corner. "You may not have a sense of subtlety, but I do. I'm not getting the police on our ass." The Joker crossed his arms and pouted childly at her. She laughed at how oddly, and dangerously, cute he looked.

"Pout all you want, Joker," She said, looking at him with a grin. "We're almost there anyway."

"Almost where?" He asked, his sulking done with as he looked eagerly out every window like an excited puppy.

"To my apartment!"


	10. The Sadism

_This chapter is a bit more mature than the previous chapters, so beware if you don't like blood or sadism _:O

* * *

**10**

**The Sadism**

"You live in an _apart_ment?" The Joker grimaced, licking his lips, "Ew."

"Oh, shut up," Queen retorted, "Forgive me for not being able to steal a fancy place from the mob." The Joker laughed at that. He glanced down at the nurse outfit he was sporting and put his hand up in the air, almost hitting Queen in the face.

"Wait!" He exclaimed dramatically, "I can't _wear_ this!" Queen looked at him as she pulled to the side of the road.

"Why not?" She asked, "It looks _good_ on you, right?" She grinned at his look of disgust.

"Now, _why_ would a _nur_se break into an apartmen_t_ comp_lex_?" He asked, "I _have_ to look _presentable_!" He undid the buttons on his shirt, causing Queen to jump.

"Woah, woah, _woah_!" She said, putting her hands in front of her to stop him. He looked at her. "Changing in front of a _lady_? Where are your manners?" Really, she just didn't want him taking of his shirt or pants, skirt in this case, while she's in the general vicinity. Not that she didn't find him attractive; she certainly did, in an odd way. But she didn't want him _undressing _in front of her!

The Joker tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Why the _fu_ss? I've seen you mostly _na_ked already; think of it as me returning the _favor_."

"That wasn't _naked_! It was my _back_!" Queen retorted.

"What's the difference?" The Joker grinned obliviously. Queen pinched the bridge of her nose as he began to unbutton his shirt again. She faced forward, ignoring the movement out of the corner of her eye, and removed his jacket from her shoulders. The clothing she'd held beneath it fell gently to her lap.

"Plus, I don't know why I had to carry your clothes," She muttered, "They smell…like gunpowder. And gasoline and smoke." The Joker laughed.

"I'm _around_ that stuff _a lot_, my dear," He said, grabbing the blue button-up shirt from Queen. She glanced over at him despite herself, catching a look at his nicely built frame with a few burns, scars, or bullet wounds here and there. He grinned, catching her eyes. "Like what you _see_?"

Queen quickly averted her eyes. "Shut up…" She muttered, tossing the vest over to him.

"I can take off the skirt too if you want a look—"

"No thank you!" The Joker laughed at her again, and Queen faced the window as he slipped on the upper portion of his clothing. That man had no shame.

* * *

Queen pushed open the doors to her former apartment complex easily, ignoring the cries and gasps that the people inside gave. The Joker followed behind her, dragging the news reporter with him. They had cut all the communication lines, except the ones for Queen's room, so they didn't bother with subtlety.

"No screaming, we're just dropping _by_," He said, waving his gun at the woman at the counter.

"I don't think your gun is helping," Queen said as she went up the stairs. The Joker laughed and followed her.

"Yes, but it's fun to _scare_ them!" Queen laughed.

"True, it really is."

She grabbed the knob to the door of her former apartment and pulled, expecting it not to open. It did just that. She sighed.

"Move, move, move," The Joker said, waving Queen out of the way and shoving the reporter towards her. He collided with her and groaned unhappily.

"Should I, like, tie him up or something?" She asked, grabbing the man's hair. The Joker nodded.

"Sure, sure," He said, shooting the lock of the door and kicking it in. It swung open, hitting the wall with a bang. He grinned at Queen. "_Tada_!" Queen laughed and dragged the reporter in to the apartment, throwing him to the ground and grabbing some rope she had in her closet. She forgot why she had it, but that didn't matter. Despite the lack of furniture, Queen had a lot of would-be unneeded things in her apartment.

She picked up the camera from the closet floor and handed it to The Joker. "Camera," She said, and went to tie up the reporter's feet. He scooted away in fear, but she grabbed his ankle before he could get far. The joker examined the camera.

"Aaah," He said, "So _this_ is how you made that _bomb_ threat!" Queen chuckled.

"Yep. That, and hacking into the news system to get the video to play," She said.

"_Hacking_?"

Queen looked at The Joker, who looked at her curiously. "You know, that thing people do with computers where they break into and take control over a website or something?" He blinked his black make-up veiled eyes. "Never mind." He nodded and fiddled with the camera as Queen finished tying the reporter's feet together. The Joker grinned suddenly, and grabbed Queen's wrist to stop her from tying the reporter's hands.

"Stop," He said, licking his scars for a second, "I have an _idea_!" Queen quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Kay." He pointed to the ceiling fan.

"Hang him upside _down_!" He giggled. Queen let out a laugh-snort at the idea.

"Why?" She asked.

"'Cause!" Queen sighed humorously and pulled the rope up to the ceiling fan as The Joker picked up the reporter and waved his knife/potato peeler in his face mockingly.

Once the reporter was hung upside down, The Joker grinned and fiddled with the camera again.

"Wait a _sec_," He said. He looked to the reporter and leaned toward his face. "What's your _name_? I never asked."

"M-Mike…I-Ing-gle…" He muttered fearfully.

"Good! Queen, make some _card_ things!" Queen looked at him.

"Card things?"

"You know! Those _things_ that news people use that tell the reporters what to _say_!" Queen rolled her eyes, but grabbed some paper and a marker from a nearby drawer anyway. She scribbled down 'I am Mike Ingle for Gotham Tonight' on the top and paused.

"What should I write?" She asked Joker, who was rooting through her apartment in boredom. He picked up a can of paint and a paint brush curiously.

"What's this?" He ignored her question.

"…Red paint," Queen replied. "What should I write?" She repeated the question. The Joker walked to the wall behind Mike and began trying to pull open the paint cans top.

"_Hmnnnn_…" He pried the top of the can off with his knife to get it to open, which worked well. He grinned and began to paint the words 'Breaking News' on the wall. "What will it _take_ for you people to join _in_?" Queen scribbled the words down as The Joker continued to splatter paint on the wall.

"You _failed_ to kill the lawyer…" He paused as more paint splattered. "And _I_ have to get you off the bench and into the _game_! Come nightfall, this city is _mine_." Queen stopped for a moment.

"What happened to _ours_?" She asked, grinning. The Joker laughed.

"I won't let you have the _whole_ city, darling!" He giggled, "But _fine_, come nightfall this city is _ours_!" Queen laughed too and wrote the words down.

"And anyone left will play by _my_ rules!" Queen pouted, and the Joker looked at her. "Now, my lovely, you can't _really_ think _you_ make he rules here, _do_ you?" Queen made a 'you have a point' gesture and prodded him to continue.

"If you don't want to be in the _game_, get out _now_," He threw the paint can to the side, ignoring it as the paint splattered all over the floor. "But the bridge and tunnel crowd are sure in for a _surprise_!" He laughed in amusement as his plan folded out in his head, and Queen, deciding to be a smartass, wrote down the 'ha's as well.

"That's good!" He said, snatching the papers from her before she was even able to finish writing the last 'ha'. He shoved the papers into Mike's hands and picked up the camera.

"Aaaaaaand," The Joker paused, "Go!" He clicked on the camera, and Mike began reciting the lines with very little emotion.

* * *

Ignoring the cries of Mike as The Joker continued to torture him via slowly slicing his skin with the numerous knives he had on hand, Queen typed away on the computer, once again hacking into the Gotham News mainframe. You'd think they upped security from the last breach, but no.

"Ugh," She groaned in agitation, "Joker, would you cut out that guys tongue or something? His screaming is giving me a headache."

"Oooh, but I _love_ hearing people scream, darling!" He sang, slowly sliding his knife through Mike's cheek as he screamed again.

"Yes, as do I, believe it or not," She replied, "But I'm trying to concen—Oh, it got through." The Joker looked at her as she successfully hacked the news mainframe. She typed a bit more, and grabbed a microphone that was hooked up to the computer and spoke to it.

"We're going to air footage we've just received," She said, loading the video into the news screen, and on the television—that Queen had turned on—the reporter paused.

"I'm being told we're cutting to a video GCN has just received…" The reporter was replaced onscreen by Mike, holding the cards in his hands as he began to recite the lines he spoke only a half an hour before. The Joker giggled maniacally.

"It worked!" He hopped up and yanked Queen from her chair happily. "You _must_ be a _genius_!" He tightly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and turned to face the television. Queen laughed.

"Nah, I just learned the right things," She didn't bother to pull away as The Joker squeezed her shoulders tighter in admiration.

"You _may_ serve much more use that I _thought_!" He grinned at her, and she grinned back. "I might not end up _killing_ you after all!" Queen laughed, covering her mouth to try to restrain it.

"Gee, I'm honored," She giggled. Over near the television, Mike shouted in pain, ruining the moment.

The Joker rolled his eyes and released Queen, strolling over to Mike and retrieving his gun from his jacket.

"You're _annoying_, ya know that?" He said, not expecting an answer as he pulled the trigger and blew Mike's brains all over the carpet.

"Geez, I feel bad for the poor schmuck who either has to clean this up or moves in here next," Queen stated, eyeing the blood on the ground as her heart skipped a beat. Damn sadism. The Joker looked at her.

"You seem a bit…_odd_, darling," He examined, noting the ever-so-slight hitch in her breath. Queen tried to push her sadistic side back down, but it refused to listen. She took a deep breath and brushed some hair out of her face.

"Nothing," She breathed, "I'm sadistic, ya know? And…the sight or thought of blood tends to set that off every so often…" The Joker licked his lips and smirked.

"Aah," He said, putting a finger beneath her chin and lifting her face to look at him, "So…_aroused_, then?" She looked away from his smirking face.

"You could say that," She muttered, feeling more than just slightly awkward. The joker removed his finger from her chin and raised a knife to her vision. Queen frowned slightly, having a feeling that she knew what he had in mind.

He rolled up his sleeves and ran the knife down his skin slowly, slitting open his skin and allowing his blood to flow freely. Queen shuddered and looked away.

"Stop that…" She muttered, biting her lip. She glanced over to see if he listened, and he certainly didn't. "Really…Joker, come on…" His eyes twinkled in pleasure, and Queen then realized that he was a masochist. Possibly a sadomasochist, either way, it worked well for her.

"Come now," He breathed, moving closer to her, "No need to hold _back_." She shook her head rapidly.

"No. No, no," She tried, backing away as he moved into her line of vision and drew another cut along his opposite arm. "I don't _like_ my sadistic side…I…" The Joker chuckled and ran a blood covered finger down her cheek.

"There are _many_ things that you may not like, _Queen_," He cooed as Queen gave way to her sadistic urge and dug her nails into his arm, raking through the skin and drawing more blood. He groaned slightly. "That doesn't change a _thing_!"

"Damn you…" She muttered as she watched his blood flow passed her fingers. He just _had_ to go and pull out her sadistic side. Now she couldn't _keep_ herself from ripping open his skin!

Queen closed her eyes, trying to calm down, at least slightly. She felt The Joker poke her cheek with his still blood covered finger, and in a random violent reflex, she bit it. He quirked an eyebrow at her in confusion.

"Resorting to _biting_?" He asked, though the tone in his voice suggested that he didn't quite mind. Queen realized what she was doing and quickly released his finger. She backed away and covered her face.

"Oh my god," She groaned. The Joker laughed, and, assuming her fit of sadism was done with, lowered his sleeves. He didn't bother to wrap the wounds, and instead allowed the blood to seep into his shirt.

"Nothing to be _embarrassed_ about," He said, wiping his blood off his knife and replacing it in his pocket.

"Easy for you to say…" Queen muttered, lowering her hands to allow her eyes visibility. "Masochist."

He grinned at her and walked to the door. "That I am, _darling_," He said, pulling the door open and skipping toward the steps. Queen followed him, wiping the blood on her hands onto her shirt.

"Maybe I should call you the _Blood_ Countess from now on?" The Joker cackled as they neared the door. No one was in the complex anymore.

"I'm a _Queen_, not a Countess…" She spoke quietly.

"_Yes_, but Countess sounds _so_ much nicer!"

"I don't think anything with 'Blood' preceding it can sound much better than anything else."

"Maybe not to _you_," He giggled and hopped back into the car they had drove in on. Queen settled for allowing him to drive, she wouldn't be able to concentrate on the road now anyway.

Not with what just happened replaying in her mind.


	11. The Fireworks

_Greetings! Sorry for the slow update this chapter, my motivation has been going on and off recently _D:  
_So, there's a bit of fluffiness in this chapter for you _:D_ Sorry if it makes Joker seem a bit OOC_

* * *

**11**

**The Fireworks**

Queen groaned as The Joker took another sharp turn, and pulled her knees to her chest, resting her forehead on them. The Joker looked at her curiously.

"What's the _matter_" He sang, not really caring.

"I'm tired, I'm hungry, and your insane driving is making me feel sick," She glared at him as he laughed. He took another turn and Queen fell to the side, landing in The Jokers lap. She groaned, but didn't bother to move.

"Well, _hello_," He said, glancing down at her for a moment, "Comfortable, _are _we?"

"Kinda," Queen replied, "Despite how dangerous and-or deadly you are, your lap is pretty comfy…" She closed her eyes, planning on falling asleep. The Joker laughed as the car lurched to a stop.

"Now _that's_ a fact about myself I didn't know!" He said as he pulled the keys out of the ignition and tossed them onto the dashboard, "But don't fall a_sleep_ now, we're _here_."

Queen sat up and slid out the passenger door, following The Joker to the end of the harbor where ferries were docked. She stared at them, wondering who they were for.

"Come, _come_!" The Joker insisted, grabbing her wrist and dragging her into the currently empty ferry. He scurried down to the lower level where numerous drums of oil, probably for the engine, were stored. He grinned and skipped over to one and began wiring a bomb to it.

"Where the hell did you get that?" Queen asked, looking at the bomb in confusion.

"I made it when you weren't _looking_! You have a lot of _handy_ things in your apartmen_t_!" He giggled as the bomb was set. He retrieved a box from his jacket and placed it on top of the oil drum. "Let's go!" He grabbed Queen's arm and dragged her away again, onto the other ferry. He repeated the bomb setting there.

"Your jacket is amazing," Queen stated as they exited the ferry, "Being able to hold all that."

The Joker chuckled and winked at her. "There are _other_ things of mine that are amazing _too_, _darling_!"

She grimaced, catching his innuendo. "Gross, Joker. Seriously." He, not giving up, strutted in front of her and swayed his hips as he moved. Queen rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Joker, your ass is very nice, but please cut that out," She said. He laughed again and hopped into the car. Queen slid in the other side and clicked on her seatbelt calmly.

"Not getting _comfortable_?" The Joker asked, starting the car and driving off.

"Not after that comment. Who know what you'll try to do to me," She muttered in response.

"Do you _really_ see me as _that_ type of ma_n_?"

"Yes."

The Joker frowned slightly. "You're no _fun_," He smirked and help up a knife, "Remember what I _said_ I'd do when you weren't any more _fun_? I'm a man of my _word_!" Queen sighed and undid her seatbelt.

"Forcing me to lay in your lap, how romantic," She muttered sarcastically, laying down and resting her head on his legs.

"I don't _like_ it when I don't get what I _want_," The Joker said, turning a corner.

"Oh? And I'm something you want?" Queen looked at him with an expectant smirk. He grinned.

"_Close_ to it!"

* * *

The car came to a stop in front of a tall building, fairly unoccupied. The Joker smirked up at the building and pulled the keys from the ignition, tossing them onto the dashboard.

"Oh, _Queen_! My darling _Blood_ countess!" He sang to the sleeping woman in his lap, "It's time to wake _up_!" Her eyes popped open and she sat up. She stretched and yawned as she got out of the car.

"Well, I'm not tired anymore…" She said, looking up to the building before her. She recognized it as the Pruit building. "Huh? Why are we here?" She asked as she kicked the car door shut.

"It's a great place to watch _fireworks_!" The Joker replied, popping up next to Queen and making her jump. She blinked at him.

"Fireworks?" She asked, "…You're going to blow up those ferries, aren't you?" The Joker grinned.

"Pre_cis_ely!" He exclaimed happily, pulling her through the glass doors. There were numerous workers tied up and sitting against the wall, their mouths covered with duct tape. Next to them were numerous thugs, their guns pointed readily.

"Good, good, you did your jobs _well_!" The Joker said to them, "Cover their faces. Can't tip the police off that we're low on backup!" The thugs nodded, and began putting clown masks on the workers. One thug put a gun into one of the workers hands and duct taped them around the handle.

"Come, _come, _darling!" The Joker said to Queen. She looked over at him, and he was already in an elevator. "Let's get _moving_!" She hurriedly made her way into the elevator and stood behind him.

"You seem _odd_, again, darling," He said. Queen was starting to think that he called her 'darling' far too much. "There wasn't any_ blood_ there. Does _bon_dage arouse you _too_? If so, I have _rope_!"

"No, no!" Queen retorted, "I just don't like those clown masks. They look freaky. I don't like clowns all that much…"

"I'm _hurt_!" The Joker stated in false despair.

"Oh calm down," Queen laughed, "You don't really look like a clown anyway. Not with these…" She reached up and touched a finger to the scar on the left side of his mouth, expecting him to twitch away, though he didn't, "…_scars_ on your face. Clowns usually have real smiles. Yours is far to fake to be freaky." The Joker smirked slightly, not seeming even remotely uncomfortable about Queen touching his scars.

"Ever heard someone say that clowns are _smiling_ on the outside, but _crying_ on the inside?" He asked. Queen blinked.

"Are you going to tell me your make-up is always running because you cry when no one is looking?" She asked in response, "How cute."

"Ooh, _no_," He laughed, "I think that's a _load_ of crap." Queen laughed at him and removed her hand from his scars. He grinned and spun her around, lifting the back of her shirt. She shouted a 'hey!' in reply.

"What are you do--!?" She arched her back as his cold glove poked her scarred skin.

"It's only _fair_," He smirked, "You touched _my_ scars, I touch _yours_!" Queen frowned at his logic.

"Uh, okay," She muttered, trying to move forward, away from him, but only ending up pressed against the elevator wall as he refused to remove his hand. "Would you mind?"

"Yes, _act_ually," He stated. Queen groaned quietly as he took his time tracing her scar.

"Why does my scar pose such interest to you?" She asked in slight annoyance. She heard him chuckle slightly.

"_Well_, I can't look at my _own_ scars all that well," He said, tracing her scar again, "_Plus_, your scar is _so_ much more attractive!" Queen laughed slightly at that (more just at the fact that Joker had poked a slightly ticklish spot on her back).

The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open. The Joker dropped Queen's shirt (to her joy), and hopped out. She followed, but much more calmly.

He pranced to the window and looked out, having a perfect view of the ferries being boarded. He retrieved a pair of black binoculars from his jacket and looked at the ferries through them.

"Where do you _get_ these things?" Queen asked in utter confusion. The pockets in his jacket must be endless or something. The Joker grinned but didn't answer.

"Convicts on one and civilians on the other, _perfect_!" He giggled and looked at Queen, "Do your _thing_, darling!"

Queen tilted her head to the side. "My thing?" The Joker reached into her pocket, making her squirm uncomfortably, and pulled out the cell phone that resided within.

"_Hack_ into the ferry's _controls_! Or whatever you _do_!"

Queen frowned. "It's much harder to do that on a phone than a computer, not to mention two ferries at the same time is—"

"You can _do_ it!" The Joker shoved the cell phone into her hands, not accepting no for an answer. She sighed and clicked a few buttons, paused, and began clicking again. It took Queen about fifteen or so minutes, and the ferries had just started sailing by the time she muttered something beneath her breath and stopped clicking. The Joker looked at her.

"Finished?" He asked. Queen nodded unhappily and put a hand to her forehead.

"Yeah, but that gave me one hell of a headache. I'm sticking to computers," She muttered as the ferries slowed to a stop, the lights inside flickering. The Joker grinned gleefully, looking at the ferries through the binoculars for a moment, seeing that the passengers had found the bombs detonator.

"Hook it _up_ to the inter_com_!" He demanded. Queen sighed heavily and clicked a few more buttons on the phone, then handed it to him.

"Just talk into the receiver," She said, sitting on the ground. The Joker clapped and turned away, holding the phone to his ear.

"Tonight you will _all_ be part of a _so_cial _experiment_!


	12. The Chance

_Very sorry for the slow updates! _D:_ I'm still working, I promise!  
I hope you all like this chapter though _:D

* * *

**12**

**The Chance**

On the ferry, the citizens were sitting in a panicked, terrified silence. The convicts were more of the same. No doubt they'd blow each other up any second.

"You have a wa_tch_?" The Joker asked Queen. She looked at him from her spot lying on the ground.

"No, but the cell phone does," She said. He snapped his fingers and flicked the phone open, licking his lips. He pouted.

"11:50," He stated, clicking the phone shut again; "They better come up with _something_ soon." Queen pushed herself up into a sitting position.

"You think Batman'll show up?" She asked, gaining a hopeful grin from Joker.

"Ooh, I _hope_ so!" He giggled. He flipped open the cell phone again and dialed, putting the phone to his ear. He began muttering orders into the receiver that Queen couldn't quite understand, then shut the phone closed.

"Who was that?" Queen asked.

"I'll need help keeping the SWAT team away when _Batboy_ shows! I don't want any _interruptions_!" He grinned, and Queen assumed he had called his thugs to guard the lower levels.

"You _too_," He said, leaning closer to her to emphasize his point, "No interruptions."

"Of course," Queen replied. "Close physical combat isn't my forte anyway."

A few moments passed in silence between the two, just watching the people on the ferries scurry around like ants.

"Boss," Said a man in a clown mask at the steps—and Queen noticed his mask looked an awful lot like Wimpy's—holding numerous vicious-looking dogs at bay.

"Good, good," The Joker said, "Leave them _here_, you go away." The thug nodded and released the leashes, heading back down the stairs. The dogs didn't move, but growled at Queen.

"...They don't like me," She said, pouting.

The Jocker laughed. "They don't like _anybody,_ darling," he said. Queen put her hands on her hips as he clapped his hands at the dogs. They slowly made their way over to him.

"A gift for Batman, right?" Queen asked, reaching out to pet one of the dogs, but gaining a growl in response and withdrawing her hand.

"Ooh, ye_s_! Do you think he'll _like_ them?" The Joker asked like he was a crushing school girl.

As if on cue, the black spandex wearing crusader appeared.

"Oh you made it, I'm so _thrilled_!" The Joker grinned. Batman looked between Joker and Queen.

"So you are working together…" He grunted. Queen crossed her arms, sneering at him.

"Ooh, no, no! We aren't _working_ together at _all_!" The Joker said, grabbing Queen and dragging her to the window, shooting the glass so it shattered everywhere. Queen shouted in surprise.

"Joker…let me go…!" She muttered, struggling.

"Let the girl go, Joker!" Batman shouted in some strange sense of justice.

"What kind of hero are you if you can't recognize a _partner_ from a _hostage_?" Joker asked, turning slightly so Queen's feet were almost dangling out the window. He licked his lips. "I mean, _what_ made you think she was my _equal_? I could kill her _any_ time I _want_!"

"Let her go!" Batman shouted again. The joker gave him a wide smirk.

"You'd _think_ you would have learned from the _last_ time you said that," He said, "Oh well!" He tossed Queen out the window, sending her plummeting down to the concrete ground below.

She stared, wide eyed at The Joker smirking down at her, no thoughts going through her mind. She gasped suddenly as everything hit her, as she realized the ground was getting closer very, VERY quickly.

She threw her hands out, grabbing for whatever she could. Not that she expected to catch anything, but it was worth a try.

Much to her surprise, her hand caught the edge of another broken window, and her body jolted to a stop. Queen shouted as she felt her shoulder pop out of place. She hung there for a moment, regaining herself, before she struggled to climb in the building. She collapsed on the floor once she was inside, pain pulsing in her shoulder and hand, which had been cut by some glass.

"_What the FUCK, Joker!?_" Queen mentally hissed. She breathed heavily through her teeth for a moment, and then forced herself into a seated position. She gripped her dislocated arm tightly, and clenched her jaw.

With one swift movement, Queen forced her shoulder back into place, screaming through her teeth in agony. She slumped slightly, her nails digging into the fabric of her sleeve, before she stood and made her way towards the stairs. She would find The Joker and kick his ass. Throwing her out a window, the asshole.

Queen didn't get too close to the stairs before someone stepped in her way. Said someone seemed to have been cut in two at one point, his left half seemed to have been burnt to a crisp before he was put back together.

"Harvey!" Queen gasped, "Woah! What happened to _you_?" Harvey Dent scowled at her, or it seemed like he did.

"_You_ happened to me," He replied, pointing a gun at her. Queen quirked an eyebrow.

"No way. The only thing I did to you was smack you in the head, there's no way—"

"The Explosion!" Harvey hissed, "_You_ set it up. You killed Rachel!" He changed the subject.

Queen rolled her eyes. Did the Joker push the blame on her? It figured. "Look, I was just doing what _The Joker_ told me to."

"The Joker is just a mad dog. He doesn't have enough sense to tell anyone what to do ahead of time," Harvey retorted.

"Hah, as far as you know," Queen muttered, "Fine, I did capture you and whats-her-face—"

"RACHEL!!"

"—whatever. And I did tie _her_ up. You were tied up by that one guy…Wimpy, yeah him." Harvey didn't bother to ask who Wimpy was. "And you know what, I did set up the bomb, and I _wanted_ her to die. She was annoying as hell."

Harvey stopped her by pulling out a coin from his pocket and raising it to her view. "What's that?" She asked.

"The one thing your life depends on," He said.

Queen heaved a sigh. "Listen, Harvey, you're an attorney, right? A _hero_ to Gotham! Why would you waste your time on a small-fry like me?"

"I'm not a hero. Not even close," He retorted.

"Oh, come on! Stop feeling sorry for yourself! Besides, Rachel was a whore—"

"Shut up," He hissed.

"She was screwing around behind your back, I bet. No doubt with that _Bruce Wayne_—"

"Shut up!"

"And the way Batman lunged after, she was probably fuc—"

"SHUT UP!!" Harvey roared in rage, and Queen felt a bullet wiz by her face. She stumbled back a step and touched her face, feeling blood.

"Ow," She stated. "Now, you wouldn't really kill me like that, would you, _Harvey_?" Good god, she was starting to talk like The Joker.

"Of course not," Harvey replied. "That's why it's not up to me." He lifted the coin again.

"Oh, fine. I call tails," Queen said. Harvey rolled his eyes a bit, and turned the coin over, revealing the charred and burnt side. He tossed it in the air.

Queen quickly pulled out her gun and shot at the coin. The bullet and coin collided, and the coin ricocheted to the side, hitting the floor and landing, the burnt side facing up.

Harvey glared at her. "That's cheating," He said, somehow managing to sound serious and not like a five-year-old.

"Not it isn't," Queen replied, putting her gun away. "It didn't affect my chances, only prolonged the outcome. It's like a higher toss. Your regular tosses are too short, there isn't enough suspense. It's boring, and I don't like bo—"

Maniacal laugher echoed behind her and, despite her better judgment, she turned around.

A quick purple-green blur fell passed the broke window, and Queen quickly recognized it as The Joker. She guessed Batman tossed him out the window too.

Oddly enough, as Queen looked out, The Joker came back _up_, like he had hit a trampoline at the bottom, only his ascent was very slow. Around his ankle was a wire, Queen assumed one of Batboy's gadgets.

"Oh, Queen, _hello_," He said casually, as if they ran into each other in a supermarket (that in that situation, he'd probably be holding up). "Ooh! Harvey, too! You look _great_ Harvey-boy!" Queen looked over her shoulder at Harvey, who was scowling at Joker.

"Oh, Queen, _darling_, those SWAT officers are on their way _up_. Remember no _interruptions_? Keep them away, would _you_?" He began to disappear behind the wall of the building.

"Uh, sure," Queen replied. The Joker giggled and disappeared from sight. Queen turned to Harvey. "You heard the man, I gotta take care of those pesky SWAT guys." Harvey scoffed, retrieved his coin, and walked away.

Queen sighed slightly, having survived yet another shitty situation, and scurried passed Harvey. She looked down the stairwell, seeing numerous SWAT officers were marching up, guns in hand. Queen reached in her pocket and pulled out a grenade she had stolen from the joker earlier on. She pulled the clip and tossed the explosive at the officers, who shouted in panic and surprise before the grenade exploded; sending them all tumbling down in charred heaps.

Harvey frowned at Queen as he passed by; waving away the smoke and dust as he continued down the steps unfazed, stepping over the either unconscious or dead officers. Living through an explosion once probably made him immune to fearing them now.

Queen looked at him for a moment before she hurried up. She still had a strong urge to kick The Joker's ass before Batman did.

In an act of cruel irony, 'The Night' bounded down the steps as Queen went the opposite way. She jumped aside and reached for her gun as he neared her, but let her hand fall when Batman kept running. She scowled slightly. She really wanted to grab his cape and knock him down…

Letting that pass, Queen continued up, hoping that Joker wasn't _too_ dead and that Batman left her at least a little blood for her to spill.


	13. The Gotham Police Department

_Hey thar _:D_ So I updated a bit faster this time, eh? Yay for inspiration!  
However, now that I've finished with The Dark Knight plot line, I don't quite know where this story'll go. Bare with me if it's a bit sloppy or slow. _D:

* * *

**13**

**The Gotham Police Department**

"Oh, Queen!" Sang The Joker as he hung upside down outside the window, "You _just_ missed Batsy!"

"Nah," Queen murmured, "Saw 'im on the stairs." She walked over to him and tugged him into the building, reaching up and untying the wire around his ankle.

She couldn't kick his ass if he was upside down, facing away from her, right?

"You seem _upset_ darling," Joker said, and Queen growled in reply. "_Def_initely up_set_."

"Oh, I wonder why," She said sarcastically as the wire broke free and she pushed The Joker in the building.

"It's about me pushing you out the _window_, isn't it?" He asked, standing up straight.

"No, of _course_ not," Queen spat, sneering.

The Joker pouted. "I _only_ did that because you looked like you were going to _in_terrup_t_ Batboy and my _meet_ing." He said and cupped his hands on either side of Queen's face, giving her the fakest look of affection she'd ever seen. "You _know_ I'd _never_ hurt you." She scoffed as his forehead gently knocked against hers.

"Liar," She stated. Joker giggled.

"_Oh_, you know me too well!" He sang, letting go of her face and prancing away. She followed, her anger having somehow dispersed.

The Joker hopped in to the, surprisingly empty, elevator, and Queen walked in after him. She pressed her back against the wall as the doors slid closed, watching the Joker carefully. He grinned at her and looked up at the numbers above the door.

They both listened quietly as the elevator dinged as it passed each floor. The Joker looked at Queen.

"Better take your _place_, darling," He said, retrieving a grenade from his coat, waiting for the doors to open. The elevator dinged again as it passed the third floor.

"My place, hm?" Queen asked, playing along and reaching for her gun. Another ding, second floor passed.

"Mm_hmm_," Joker said, smirking. "We're gonna go out with a _bang_!" The doors slid open, revealing the lobby filled with the GPD and SWAT officers, and the Joker threw out the grenade, which he had already pulled the clip on. He covered his head and pushed Queen aside as the explosion sent dust and smoke flying into the elevator.

Once the temporary chaos passed, The Joker released Queen's arm (which she didn't even notice he was holding onto) and walked out into the destroyed lobby.

Queen slowly followed him, glancing around to make sure none of the police were still alive. "Come, come, Queen!" The Joker called to her. "Let's get _mov_ing!" He grabbed her arm again and yanked her toward the door.

More police met them there, their guns loaded, cocked, and pointed directly at the criminal's heads. The Joker stuck out his lower lip unhappily as he looked around at all the officers. He shrugged, and with a laugh raised his hands in the air above his head. "Aah, you _got_ me!"

Queen looked at him, shocked and flabbergasted. "What? You're giving up!?"

"Not _I_, darling," He corrected, pulling one of Queen's arms up so she dropped her gun. "_We_."

"What!?"

The police surrounded them quickly, their guns pointed at every possible vital organ the two bodies held. "On the ground!" One officer commanded. The Joker nodded obediently.

"You got it, officer!" He sang and laid on the ground, pulling Queen with him.

The two were cuffed and shoved into separate trucks, then sent off to Gotham Prison.

* * *

Queen was shoved roughly into her cell, all the way on the other side of the prison from Joker's cell. She sighed and allowed the cop to take off her cuffs. Sitting down on a bench attached to the bars as the cell door closed, Queen ran a hand through her hair. She never thought The Joker would give up so easily. Granted, he didn't fight when Gordon locked him up, but she assumed that was just to get Harvey where he was supposed to be.

Queen shook her head. She didn't keep track of how long she and The Joker had been working together (she guessed it was at about two months now), but being around him for so long was starting to screw with her head. And, as corny as it sounded, her heart too. She didn't quite know why, but part of her wished she was currently sitting next to him, listening to him make a crack of how angry she seemed, and calling her 'darling' with that raspy voice of his.

She smacked her forehead, scolding herself for those odd, affectionate thoughts. As her palm impacted with her skull, Queen winced at the pain that throbbed in her sore shoulder. The pain must have been obvious, due to one of the prisoners in the cell across from hers looking at her.

"Aw, what's wrong, sweetheart?" He cooed, smirking. "Get a little too rough with Joker, hah?" She shot him a glare.

"Oh, definitely." She retorted, making sure her sarcasm was barely noticeable. "You wouldn't believe it." He seemed a bit disgusted at first, but it disappeared as he backed away from the bars. An officer neared Queen's cell, giving the prisoner a stern look as he retrieved his handcuffs.

"Get over here," He commanded, and Queen did that, mocking him when he couldn't see her face. Once she was securely handcuffed, the officer unlocked her cell and pulled her out.

"And where am I being taken, Officer?" Queen asked, wincing at how much she sounded like Joker.

"Interrogation. Gordon wants to see you first."

"Oh, I'm honored."

* * *

As the door to the interrogation room was pushed open, Queen came face to face with a pitch-black room. The cop dragged her to the table in the middle of which, sitting her down in the chair facing the door and turning on the small table lamp.

"Lift your arms," The officer ordered. Queen looked at him, a bit angry at his rudeness, and did as she was told. As the cop began to unlock her cuffs, Queen noticed with amusement how close her hands were to his neck. Her fingers could brush his throat, is she stretched them just a bit.

She could easily snap his neck if she wanted to. All she had to do was lean forward, until her fingers tightened around his jaw and the back of his head. Then she'd twist, moving one arm back and the other forward—like an engine—until his neck cracked sickeningly and his brain would stop functioning, his lungs stopping their attempt to pull in air, and he'd fall, crashing to the ground.

She'd have to be lucky to pull that off, though.

The cuffs were unlocked, and the officer left, leaving Queen alone to wait. She looked around. The room was dark, but she could make out her faint reflection in two mirrors on either side of her. She smirked, knowing that behind one of them, Gordon and numerous others were watching her. She had an urge to wave, but decided against it.

As she began to become extremely bored, the door opened with a creak, and in walked Commissioner Gordon.

"Well, hello there, Mr. Gordon," Queen said, smiling at him. "So, when is my punishment? I get the death penalty right? Lethal Injection, please." Gordon stared at her. It might just have been Queen's confidence in freaking him out, but he seemed slightly intimidated.

"Not just yet," Gordon replied, sitting down. "I have a few questions to ask you first." Queen nodded, thinking he was a bit too polite for someone interrogating a criminal.

"Ask away, Commissioner-man," She said, leaning on the table. Gordon hesitated, seeming ever-so-slightly nervous.

"The Joker," He stated. Queen nodded again. "What do you know about him?" She quirked an eyebrow.

"Well, for one, he's insane. For another, he's sadomasochistic, and isn't afraid to kill anyone in his way—"

"Yes, I know that," Gordon interrupted. "I mean, do you know anything…personal, about him?"

"Aah, not really. He doesn't tell me anything, believe it or not."

"You two are partners, aren't you? He's bound to have told you something," Gordon prodded, gaining a shake of her head from Queen.

"Partners? Maybe to you. More like, hostage with…well, not benefits…special treatment, I suppose," Queen shrugged.

"And why is that?" She rolled her eyes a bit.

"Hell, I dunno. If you think I'm sleeping with him, you're wrong," She noted a bit of disturbance in Gordon's eyes. "He's threatened to kill me numerous times. Actually, it's more like warning me to stay interesting; otherwise I'm as good as dead. I don't think I'm really all that fun anymore, so why he hasn't killed me is a mystery."

"So…you've had the ability to get the attention of the police before. If you're a hostage, why don't you turn him in right now?"

"Turn him in??" Queen laughed at that. "No way!"

"Are you afraid to?" Queen gave him a look.

"Afraid? Hell no."

"Then why?" Gordon sounded like he was becoming agitated.

Queen smirked at him. "Because I _like_ working with him." Now he looked confused.

"You…_like_ it?" He sounded absolutely bewildered.

"Damn right. He's insane, yes. He's violent and dangerous, yes. But that's all the reason why I like working with him. He isn't normal like you, or those other guys there," She nodded her head toward the mirrors, startling the officers on the other side. "Normal is boring. And, as I've said before, I don't like boring."

Gordon was quiet, and Queen was the same. After a moment, Gordon decided he had heard enough, and stood. Queen watched him as he walked away. Once the door closed, she laughed and turned toward one of the mirrors.

"Quite a show, wasn't it? Please tell me you were video taping that!" She said, meant for the officers watching her. However, she was facing the wrong mirror.

The door opened again, and the same officer from before entered. He once again told her to lift her arms. She smirked, and did so.

Now, she felt particularly lucky.


	14. The Desire

_MATURE CONTENT WARNING! ...more or less _:| _There is some...suggestive material in this chapter, just a heads up. Tell me if The Joker is out-of-character at all, please_ D:

_By the way, a little fun fact, while writing this chapter, I was listening to 'Want You Bad' by The Offspring on repeat. _XD

* * *

**14**

**The Desire**

All came to alert as the officer fell, his neck thoroughly snapped and his weapons taken.

Queen pointed the stolen gun at the mirror behind her, and pulled the trigger. Bullets erupted from the barrel, shattering the mirror easily. She noticed an officer escape from the doorway as the mirrors shards fell, and ducked behind the wall. She fired more shots at the opposite mirror, which exploded in a flurry of glass. She jolted toward the door as it flew open with a bang. She pulled the trigger again, and heard a shout as a bullet passed through the revealed shoulder of one cop.

All went silent for a moment, and all that could be heard were the interested and excited shouts of inmates in nearby cells. Queen darted her eyes between the three doors acting as openings, making sure to have her trigger finger ready if anyone were to step through them.

Everything stayed completely silent for a while, and eventually Queen became annoyed.

She silently picked up a shard of glass, making sure not to cut her fingers, and tossed it into the formerly mirror-hidden room to her left. The glass hit the floor with a clink, and the officers positioned there turned in and shot at anything and everything. Queen drove a bullet into all their heads within seconds, and cursed beneath her breath as she ran out of ammo. She quickly reloaded the gun and hopped into the left-two-way-mirror room and poked her head out from the edge, and aimed carefully at the windows in the other two-way-mirror room.

Once she was confident with her aim, she pulled the trigger, but quickly released it. The window shattered, and the officers outside that room immediately looked towards it. A few shouts of 'did she escape!?' echoed from the cops, before they slowly began to enter the room. Ducking low, Queen crawled to the other dead officers, making sure not to make any noise. A shout echoed from her right, and she felt a bullet whiz by her nose.

Giving up on being silent, Queen grabbed the gun of a second officer and darted from the room. The police screamed orders to each other, aiming at her as she ran towards them. She lifted her gun as well, and fired randomly at them. She shouted as a numerous bullets whizzed by her or drove into her flesh.

She dashed by the guards, gaining a few more bullet wounds, and ran across the prison. Numerous inmates cheered her on, or jeered her, she wasn't sure. Either way, she continued on, shooting down the occasional guard and shooting the locks of some cells to release the inmates, until she made it to The Joker's cell.

"Well, well, darling," He teased as she leaned against the bars. "You look awful. But you sure do know how to put on a show. Started quite the riot here."

"Shut up," She huffed, standing a bit shakily and shooting the lock of his cell door until it opened. The Joker smirked at her.

"Just _full_ of surprises, aren't we?" He asked, standing.

"You could say that. Now hurry it up, those released inmates are probably dropping like flies," Queen waved him from his cell and hurried toward the exit. The Joker, however, went in a different direction.

"Wha—what the hell are you doing?" Queen asked, spinning around and following him.

"They took my _jacket_," He replied. "That wasn't _cheap_, you know." Queen rolled her eyes and Joker pulled opened a door—the lock to which had already been shot—which led to a storage room (at least what Queen assumed was a storage room). The Joker pranced in and rooted through a few shelves, grabbing numerous weapons, as well as his jacket once he found it.

The police shouted a ways away from the two criminals, alerting Queen. "Joker, hurry up!"

"Come here, _darling_," Joker said, ignoring her order. When Queen didn't comply, he tugged on her arm until she did. "Get back."

She allowed herself to be pushed further into the storage room behind The Joker, and wondered what he was doing as he rooted through a drawer. He cheered a successful 'aha!' as he pulled out a grenade, stuffing it into his jacket. He did the same with numerous other grenades he retrieved, but left one out as the policemen's shouts got louder. He grinned and waited, moving towards the door and peering out. He quickly pulled the clip and tossed the grenade far out into the prison, closing the door and hurrying back.

Before Queen was able to react and shield herself, The Joker pressed her against the back wall of the room and his body against hers. She made a disapproving noise.

"J-Joker! What are yo—" The grenade outside exploding stopped her mid-sentence, sending smoke and dirt flying in through the cracks around the door. There was silence for a while, giving Queen a moment to wonder why The Joker had shielded her. Part of her assumed it was his odd form of protection, but she didn't really believe that.

"Well, sounds like the _commotion_ is under con_trol_," Joker said, snapping Queen back to her twisted reality. "Let's go!" He pulled her after him, and pushed open the door, which fell off its hinges as it hit the wall.

The Prison was a mess, dust and dirt covered the walls and floor, and numerous bodies of the GPD were strewn across the area. This didn't bother The Joker nor Queen however, as they continued to the exit without missing a beat.

As they exited through a fire door, Queen faltered, finally realizing the pain in her shoulder where she had gotten shot. All the adrenaline of the situation had masked her pain until just then.

"You _really_ shouldn't start problems like that, darling," The Joker said, "You'll get yourself hur_t_."

"Yeah, I know that now…" Queen muttered unhappily. Sirens wailed in the distance, cutting through the would-be silent night air.

"Shit…reinforcements?" Queen spoke, tightening her grip on her gun. Up to ten police cars swerved around the corner, heading straight towards the prison. "When did they call…?"

"Queen," The Joker said, his voice sounding serious for the first time.

"Huh?" Queen replied, cocking her gun.

"Get ou_t_ of here."

Queen paused slightly, confused. "What? What do you mean?" He turned to her, giving her a look she felt could freeze her soul.

"Get _out_ of _here_," The sound of his voice sent shivers up Queen's spine, but she still didn't move. "_**Now**_."

She would have stayed. She would have asked him why she needed to leave. But instead, her body listened to him. She turned and ran, her mind screaming at her to stop as she sprinted down the street and turned a corner.

As she found herself in a dark alley, Queen sat down in between a dumpster and a group of trash cans, breathing heavily.

She didn't get it. The Joker seemed very strange recently. Protecting her from the explosion (now that she thought of it, he had done that before as well, just not as noticeably), telling her to get away when they were outnumbered (that, however, never happened before). It confused the shit out of her.

She closed her eyes tight as her shoulder throbbed in pain. The small cuts or scrapes on other parts of her body throbbed also, making a group effort to break her down.

Queen clenched her jaw, trying her best to ignore the pain. She dug her nails into the mud beneath her, letting the minutes pass unnoticed

Footsteps echoed in her ears, and she grabbed her gun. Fixing her finger on the trigger, Queen held her breath as the steps grew closer. She stayed still, silent, until the footsteps stopped directly in front of her. She jolted as fingertips brushed her shoulder.

Raising her arm so quickly it was difficult to stop it, Queen pointed her rifle at the offender's head.

Said offender laughed, licking his blood-covered scars. "On _alert_, huh darling?"

Queen stopped as she registered who it was. The Joker grinned at her, his make-up running and smeared by the blood on his face. Queen could tell the blood was his own.

"J…Joker, you're bleeding…" She muttered, her voice rattled by the pain in her body.

"_Yeah_," He said, touching the wound on is head and frowning slightly. "Those _cops_ put up one hell of a _fight_." He grinned again. "Let's get ou_t_ of here before _more_ show up."

Queen nodded after a brief pause, and stood shakily. The Joker spun around to leave, but stumbled. Queen, reacting purely on reflex, caught him before he hit the ground.

"Jesus, Joker," She said, steadying him. "You're all fucked up."

He chuckled. "Tell me something I _don't_ know." She slung his arm around her shoulders and supported him. He gave her an amused and inquiring look.

"I don't care how proud you are, you can't walk like this," Queen said. He chuckled again.

"Now, you aren't in much better _shape_, darling," he teased.

"I guess, but I'm at least able to walk."

"Aah, _touché_."

* * *

The two made it to Queen's apartment—for lack of better place to go—which was still deserted. Queen kicked open the lock-less door and helped The Joker over to the couch. She expected him to sit down, but he didn't.

"Aren't you gonna sit down?" She asked, having a hard time standing up herself.

"_Nope_."

Queen frowned, but decided to take his place on the couch, and fell onto the cushions.

Before her head even hit the soft warmth of the couch, she was unconscious.

* * *

Queen's mind was tugged gently from the world of sleep as she felt something dug into her bullet wound. She groaned, but found herself unable to fully become conscious. The pain she felt from her shoulder was nothing more than a faint echo in her hazy mind, only being a feeling of mild discomfort as her wound was rendered empty. She began to sink back into her dreams as something pricked the flesh along her wound, slowly being tugged shut…

* * *

Her eyes opened. Temporarily, Queen was blinded by the scorching sunlight glaring her view of the room to a white blur. Once her eyes adjusted, her senses returned as well. She took a deep breath through her nose and frowned as she smelled smoke. Concerned, Queen forced herself up and slid off the couch, almost collapsing as the room spun around her.

"Aah, Queen…shouldn't…_up_ yet…" A faint voice floated into her eardrums as she stumbled towards the smell of smoke, her sight turned to a blur once again. She swayed, and fell against the wall.

She closed her eyes tight, and re-opened them, now able to comprehend that she was in the kitchen doorway.

"I overdid it on the _morphine_, you should take it _easy_." It was The Joker that was talking to her, Queen realized. As her eyes sorted out the scene, she saw he was standing in front of the stove, messing with a pan holding a clump of black, unrecognizable food (or, what she assumed was once food).

"...Morphine? Where…?" She slurred her question, trying to gain her bearings.

"I have my _ways_!" was all he said. Queen was getting sick of that response.

Queen took a few deep breaths, and once she was confident in her senses, she looked up at and examined The Joker. He was wearing the blue button-up shirt he always wore beneath his suit, and the same purple pants, both articles of clothing being significantly torn up. The biggest difference, Queen noticed, was the fact that he wasn't wearing any make-up. His devilishly handsome face was very visible.

Oddly, Queen's face felt unusually hot.

"By the _way_," Joker began, seeming to not notice Queen's pink-tinted face. "Not that I _mi_nd the _view_, but…" He made a motion to her chest, and Queen glanced down, expecting to see the red-orange fabric of her shirt. Instead, she saw a light pink bra, about ready to fall off. She could feel her face light up as she clicked the un-done bra closed.

She looked pointedly at The Joker. "Joker…" she began dangerously.

"Now, darling, don't go _think_ing the wrong _thing_," He made another motion to the stitches in Queen's shoulder. "I had to _stitch_ that up. And your _shirt_ was in the _way_, so I took it _off_!" Queen's not-amused expression grew darker as The Joker licked his lips. "_But_ you weren't _wear_ing anything _under_ that, a ba_d_ idea by the way, so I put on of…" another motion to the bra, "_those_ on you. Afraid I didn't know how to…_close_ it."

A few things ran through Queen's mind at that moment:

1. So The Joker drugged her _and_ undressed her. If she didn't know better, she'd be concerned that he raped her too…actually, she _didn't_ know better.

2. 'One of those'? So he didn't know what a bra was? Queen was now almost certain Joker was a virgin.

3. She was standing in front of The Joker, a wanted criminal, half naked.

And she thought her face was red before.

She momentarily stopped stewing in her own embarrassment to glance up at the smell of smoke growing stronger in her nose. Her eyes traveled to the pan atop the stove, the 'food' within it charred and blacker than previously…

As well as on fire.

Queen shouted in alarm at the flames and pointed frantically. The Joker glanced over to the blaze.

"…Oops." He said. Queen darted passed him and snatched up the fire extinguisher from beneath the sink. Positioning it and aiming, she pulled the nozzle, stumbling back slightly as the white foam doused the flames, and the area around the flames, quickly. Once the danger passed, Queen dropped the fire extinguisher, which fell to the ground with a clank, and took a deep breath through her nose.

"Aah, _always_ prepared, huh, _dar_ling?" Joker asked. Queen glared at him.

"Every apartment has a fire extinguisher under the sink. Ya' know, just incase a world renowned criminal were to come in and set their _KITCHEN ON FIRE_!" She flailed in agitation, worked up and stressed.

"Aww, now darling, it was a simple _mistake_."

"Mistake my ass..." She murmured and turned to walk through the door, which led to her bedroom, on the other end of the kitchen.

"Hm? Where are you _going_?" Joker asked tossing the charred pan into the sink, wincing as it clattered noisily.

"I don't exactly _like_ standing half-naked in front of a criminal. So I'm getting dressed," Queen kicked the door shut, not waiting for a reply, and sighed heavily as she plopped on the bed. She glanced up, noticing her reflection in an adjacent mirror. She cringed at how terrible she looked. Her hair was a mess, her eyes had dark bags beneath them, her face was pale from lack of sleep, and blood stained most of her skin.

"Ugh, gross. I really need a shower…" She muttered as she touched the top of her head, realizing her crown was not there. She frowned, but decided to not bother; she'd ask The Joker about it later.

Like that was his cue, The Joker bounded through the door, ignoring the 'bam' it made as it collided with the wall.

"Jesus!" Queen shouted in surprise. "Joker, what the hell!?" He looked at her and within a second he had her pinned to the bed, hovering a foot or two above her. She struggled unhappily, confused and startled by the sudden action.

"You know, I was _think_ing," Joker began, licking his lips contemplatively. "Since you and I began our…would you call it a _partnership_? I have many times _threat_ened to _k_ill you…but I never live _up_ to that. Now, _why_ is tha_t_?"

Queen swallowed, "H-how should I know? I've been wondering that myself…" She swallowed again, making a poor attempt to slow her racing heart.

"_Weeell_, while _th_inking, I figured it _out_," He licked his lips again and shifted so he now straddled Queen's waist, making her _very_ uncomfortable. "I…_want_ you."

"Wh-what!?"

"I _don't_ quite understand _why_…but I _really_ want to be…_inside_ you." Queen's mind spun in a horrible flustered meltdown, her face flushing so red she could swear it would explode if The Joker said one more awkward thing.

"Aah, you look _tr_oubled, darling. You're not _embarr_assed, are you? There's _nothing_ to be embarrassed about."

_E-easy for you to say…!_ Queen though frantically. She tensed unhappily as the Joker's knife she didn't realize he held trailed along her jaw, down her neck, and along her collarbone until it slid beneath the strap of her bra and snapped it apart. She panicked mentally as the knife slid back up her neck, and slipped into her skin, moving down and drawing a neat cut in her cheek.

The Joker watched with interest as small droplets of blood formed, escaping from their confined beneath Queen's skin and running down her jaw. He smirked, leaned down and pressed his tongue to her cheek, running it up along the wound and licking away the blood. Queen tensed and squeezed her eyes shut. This was _far_ too much for her.

"J-Joker! Stop it…!" She grabbed his shoulders and pushed him away, but she didn't manage push him too far. He frowned at her. She wavered under his gaze. "Just…stop it…"

Something in The Joker's eyes changed, and he began to laugh. "Don't be so _serious_ darling! I'm really starting to _wonder_ what type of guy you think I _am_!" He hopped off of her and walked out the door, still laughing.

Queen stared, gaping as The Joker disappeared from sight. She felt a bit dizzy as the entire situation sunk in, and she collapsed, unconscious on the bed.

In the other room, The Joker sat down, a scowl painted viciously on his lips.


	15. The Night

_Took me a month, but what better way to enter the New Year than with an update? (That, and I got a lot of Joker merchandise for Christmas, so that gave me inspiration!) _:D _Now, I'm afraid I don't write dirty stuff, sorry to disappoint you guys_.

_But I hope you like anyway! I know you all have been cheering for Queen and Joker...well, I won't give anything away!_ ;D _And now, it's 3am here, and I'm goin to bed!_

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**15**

**The Night**

Queen woke up in a daze, finding herself beneath the covers of the bed she had fallen asleep on. She didn't move for a moment, lounging happily in the warmth of the bed, before she shot up and threw the blankets away. She sighed in relief as she saw her clothes on their rightful place on her body. She glanced down, the broken snap of her bra catching her eye and causing the prior events to return to her mind. Her face flushed again.

The more she thought about it, the more confused she became. She knew she found the Joker, for lack of better word, attractive, and the darker part of her mind _had_ thought of sleeping with him (after the sadism scenario). But, she reasoned with herself, The Joker coming on to her suddenly like that surprised the shit out of her. Had she expected it, why she would she had no clue, then…it would have went a different way.

She sighed, holding her head in her hands for a moment as she thought about how she was going to deal with seeing The Joker again. She shook her head and slid off the bed onto her feet. She crept to the door slowly and quietly, pressing her ear to it to listen for any sign of The Joker being outside.

As she leaned against the rectangular piece of wood, it opened, causing her to fall forward. She stumbled, but straightened herself before she collided with anything. Anything being The Joker.

"Oh, darling, I was _just_ about to wake you _up_," He said, licking his lips. Queen was slightly relieved to see he was wearing his make-up again. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. "No time for conver_sation_, darling. We need to _go_." He slid his arms beneath her knees and held her back tightly as he picked her up. She squeaked slightly.

"Ah! Joker! Put me down!" She complained, flailing.

"Don't _move_ so much, I don't want to _drop_ you!" He said, struggling to keep his grip on her. She stopped, but quickly resumed as The Joker neared the door.

"What—where are you going!? I'm not wearing a shirt!" She complained. "And aren't you hurt too? Damnit, why are we moving so soon!?" Having a feeling he wasn't going to stop at any point, she snatched up her crown from a table they passed.

"I'm not a man that's able to sit _still_ for long, darlin_g_," Joker retorted, kicking open the door. Queen protested through numerous aggravated noises.

"No! Wait! Aah, Joker, come on!" She whined as he struggled down the steps.

"Oh now, what's the _fuss_?" He asked, reaching the bottom floor and kicking this door open as well. Numerous men stood in the lobby, clown masks covering their faces. They looked over at the two, and Queen was sure they were gawking at her behind their masks.

"Put me down!" She ordered quietly to The Joker, who did just that. She spun him around and tugged on his jacket, trying to get it off of him.

"Ooh, darling, not _here_," He cooed as his jacket slid off.

"Shut up…" She groaned, putting the jacket on herself. "And _where_ did these guys come from?"

"_Con_nection_s_," He winked at her and she groaned, hoping the blush on her face wasn't noticeable. "Well!" He clapped his hands, "Time to _move_, boys! Let's go catch a _Batman_!" Buttoning up the jacket that was much too large for her, Queen knew a lot of shit was going to hit the fan.

* * *

Gunfire echoed in the air, but whether it hit anyone or not Queen couldn't tell. She pulled the trigger on the double-barrel shotgun The Joker had forced upon her, aiming at a black blur as it whizzed passed her. Something clanked as it hit the floor, and glancing down, she saw a small circular object by her foot. In the middle of the object was a small timer, which read '0:05', quickly counting down. She cursed loudly, but before she could react, she was pulled out of the range of the explosion.

A scolding noise echoed next to her ear as the smoke cleared, the arms around her holding her tight. "Tsk, tsk, Batsy. You should _know_ not to hurt Queeny. She's _mine_, you know," said The Joker.

"Who's yours?" Queen muttered. The caped crusader came into view then.

"Hand over the girl, Joker," He demanded.

"No," Joker retorted, holding Queen tighter. She frowned as she found his grip a bit too tight for her liking.

"Hand her over!"

"Hey, look Batboy," Queen said, annoyed at Batman trying to 'save' her and ignoring the tight hold around her. "I don't know what rules you follow or who you think I am, but I don't really _want_ to be 'saved' by you, you know. So I suggest you focus on keeping yourself out of jail, and stop trying to protect the villain." The Joker whistled behind her.

"You heard the lady," He said.

"And you, let me go."

"Yes ma'am." The Joker released his hold on Queen and she stepped forward, lifting her rifle.

"I'm sick of you," She muttered, pulling the trigger. Two bullets exploded out toward Batman, but missed as he darted aside and disappeared from sight. Sirens wailed in the distance

"Now, _Qu_een," The joker began, grabbing hold of the gun barrel. "_Don't_ go killing Batsy. He's too _fun_ to kill!"

"Maybe to you. That black hunk-of-spandex is annoying as hell," She muttered, resting the barrel of the gun over her shoulder, ignoring it as the cold metal brushed her ear.

"Now, now, darling," He replied, taking the gun from her and pulling her along toward a car filled with clown mask-wearing thugs. "Don't be so _cold_, Batsy is just doing his _job_."

"Yeah, well I'm sick of it," Her words were nothing more than a faint murmur as she fixed her crown.

"You _say_ something?" Joker asked, and Queen shook her head. She cracked her neck, feeling a bit of blood run down her leg. She had learned, from The Joker's example of course, to ignore it when she got injured during one of these 'outing's. It wasn't that difficult to her, oddly enough.

Wind blew passed them as The Joker yanked open the car door, waving Queen in like a gentleman. She chuckled and tightened his coat around her as she slid in, waving to the men in the front seat. The Joker hopped in gleefully, despite the blood pouring out from his side onto his shirt.

"You're bleeding again," Queen stated. He looked at his side with a surprised expression.

"So I _am_," He said. "Ah well!"

"You're gonna kill yourself like that, Joker."

"Aw, darling, me dieing is the _last_ think you need to worry abou_t_." That caught Queen off guard, for some reason.

"...Who said I was worried?" She retorted, then lower, "Hell, I think all of Gotham would probably be relieved if you died…" That seemed to make The Joker unhappy.

"No, no, _no_. Darling, you don't _get_ it," He grabbed her, pushing her against the window. She let out a gasp as her head hit the glass, not hard enough to knock her out, but hard enough to make the world spin. "This city _needs_ me. If I wasn't here to take _care_ of it, it would fall apart! This is _my_ city!" Queen coughed a bit, struggling to breathe through the tight grip The Joker had on her throat.

She had never seen him angry before, at her at least. For a while, she thought there was nothing she could do that would piss him off. But apparently she was wrong.

"Right…s-sorry…" She managed, looking at him through watery eyes. His crimson lips curved up, and he released the throat. She gasped and coughed, refilling her empty lungs. The car stopped then, though she didn't care to notice.

"Here, right boss?" The thug who was driving asked. The Joker responded with a complicated sentence that was much longer than needed and basically translated into 'Yep!'

He slid out the door and pranced toward the exit. Queen followed suit, albeit not as joyfully. As the two of them made it to the room they decided to make 'home', Queen stopped in the doorway as Joker disappeared around a corner.

There were probably a hundred other rooms in the complex; there was no reason she had to stay in the same room as The Joker. She could easily turn and walk further down the hall and stay in one of those rooms.

Despite this thought, however, Queen didn't budge form the doorway.

"Hmn? Queen _darling_, is the doorway _so_ interesting that you won't _leave_ it?" Joker asked, looking at her from inside the room.

"Huh?" She asked, having not been paying attention. "Oh, uh, no. Not really." She entered the room.

"So? Then why _were_ you just _stand_ing there?" He tilted his head to the side, observing her as she ran a few fingers through her hair.

"Eh, I was just thinking," Her mouth disobeyed her brains order to keep the thoughts to herself. "There are a bunch of other rooms in this building, we don't need to stay in the same one."

He didn't seem to get it. "I mean, I was considering staying in a room down the hall or something tonight. That's all." He pouted and walked over to her. He pushed the door shut, and grabbed her arm, tugging her further into the room. She protested.

"Hey, Joker, I decided _against_ that idea! You don't need to force me to stay in here. Let go!" She was unable to free her arms until The Joker faltered, stumbling ever so slightly. Queen noticed this, however, and stopped, managing to stop his movement too.

"Joker, you're still bleeding," She said, gaining his attention. "You really _will_ die at this rate." He looked at his still bleeding side and shrugged. Queen groaned and opened a nearby drawer in the kitchen counter, rummaging through it and producing a roll of bandages. She snatched a towel off a shelf and waved him into the bedroom.

"It's my turn to tend to injuries, now," She said, half joking as she followed him through the door. "Sit down and take off your shirt." She ordered. The joker plopped on the bed and undid the vest he wore, tossing it aside. Queen winced slightly, part of her not liking the looks of him partially undressing in front of her. It gave her the wrong idea.

She shook that thought off and knelt before him as his blood-stained blue shirt was tossed aside as well. "Isn't this a _pretty_ picture?" The Joker asked, smirking. Queen sighed. It probably was to him. Her, kneeling down in front of him while he is wearing no shirt. It wasn't as 'pretty' in her eyes, however.

"Yeah, sure," She replied uninterestedly, looking at the gaping wound in his side. It wasn't so bad that it'd need stitches, but it was still bleeding freely. How the hell did he even _get_ that, anyway?

Queen took the towel and wiped away the blood the best she could, and held it over the cut while picking up the roll of bandages with her free hand. "Lift your arms," She said. The Joker did so, and she began to wrap the bandages around his torso. Once she was satisfied with her work, she tied the ends of the bandages together and left it be.

"There," She said, sighing a bit. "You're still bleeding, though. I'm going to have to physically restrain you if you try to go out fighting Batboy again anytime soon." The Joker smirked at her.

"You should be a _doctor_, darling," He said. "I _would_ like to see you in one of those _nurse_ dresses…" He made an approving noise as he thought up the mental image. Queen groaned, hoping her face wasn't as red as it felt.

"Hm. Then why didn't you fix me up with one of them when you paid a doctor visit to Harvey? I could'a tagged along." She as being sarcastic, of course. She didn't _want_ to wear a nurse uniform at all.

"_Well_," He began, one of his fingers finding it's way beneath Queen's chin and tilting her head up. "I didn't _real_ize my…_attraction_ to you then, _dar_ling." He said. Queens lips curved down, and she was positive her blush was noticeable.

"You know, Joker…" She muttered, "You confuse me." He quirked an eyebrow. "I mean…you're insane. And, since it's not boring like the rest of the people in this city, I like that. But, I shouldn't like it…_this_ much. I mean…" She trailed off, unable to find the right words to finish her statement. The Joker's lips curved up further, and without a single word, he connected them with hers. Queen was mildly surprised, and almost thought that she may have been imagining things. That The Joker wasn't _actually_ kissing her. But it was far to real to be a fantasy. She could taste the wax-y unpleasantness of his make-up on her tongue. She could feel the powder on his face smear onto hers. She could smell the stench of gunpowder and smoke that she had somehow become used to and slightly fond of.

The jacket on Queen's shoulders slid off before she even realized it, and The Joker maneuvered her onto the bed.


	16. The Reflection

_I'm infinitely sorry about the 2-month wait for an update. Writers Block is a real bitch _D: _I hope the chapter is worth the wait. It probably isn't, but eh. _XD _And damn, it's much shorter than it seemed in Microsoft Word...._

_But enjoy anyway, yes?_

* * *

**16**

**The Reflection**

Queen gasped as her back hit the mattress, her body finally realizing its exhaustion. She coughed a bit, her chest heaving as she tried to even out her breathing. After a moment, she lifted her hands and covered her face, thinking over what just happened. A low, tired chuckle came from beside her.

"Well darling…embarrassed again…are we?" The Joker spoke in between gasps.

"Sh-…shut up…" Queen breathed in reply. She knew her cheeks were already a shade of bright pink, but she could feel it grow hotter anyway. The Joker shifted next to her, and she could feel him moving closer, but before the two could make any contact, Queen jumped up, snatched a sheet off the ground that she wrapped around herself and walked towards the door. Joker propped himself up as he asked her where she was going.

She muttered the words "To get a shower" beneath her voice, hiding her flaming red face. The Joker chuckled and commented on his being able to see her ass, to which she responded a loud and displeased 'Shut up!' and hurried away to the bathroom. She heard him giggle again as she closed the door tight, making sure it was locked.

Sighing, Queen leaned against the door and ran her fingers through her hair. She winced, her body already ached. It would figure.

Queen turned on the shower and waited a bit for the water to warm up before she actually stepped in. She sighed again. It had been, what, two weeks since she had a shower? With Batman and Joker taking up all her time, she completely forgot about hygiene.

As she washed all the blood and dirt (and god knows what else) from her hair and body, Queen mulled over her life over the last two months. Or it could have been longer than that, she didn't bother to keep track.

Whatever the case, she found herself feeling shocked at how sharp a turn her life took. One day she was causing trouble in a bar or club—at the very bottom of 'Gotham's Most Wanted' list—the next day she's working with The Joker, making the cops scurry in circles trying to track her down.

In one way, it was fantastic. She had always hated how calm the city was. You'd think, that with a not-so-perfect childhood like hers, she'd want a calm, normal life, but no. The exact opposite, in fact. When things were calm, Queen always had an uncontrollable urge to start a panic. Otherwise, she'd sit in silence, and have forever to think about her life, her career, her relationships…her _death_.

And in all truth, that scared her.

But now, by working with The Joker, she has the entire city drenched in paranoia. Not a single person in Gotham was sitting happily in their house, ignorant to the world around them. They all were watching the news, loved ones nearby, horrified and ready to run to wherever they thought may be 'safe'.

Thinking about all that made Queen laugh. But, of course, despite all this, working with the Joker would cause…problems. If that's how you'd describe them.

In many ways, she admired The Joker. He was determined to destroy any stable string of sanity the city had left, and if one plan failed (not that any of them really _did_, he didn't plan anything from the start. Or so he says.), he'd come up with something else just as quickly, and start right up again. However, there were times she feared her admiration wasn't only that, and bridged on a stronger feeling she didn't even _want_ to think about.

Then again, it was probably safe to say it had become pretty obvious. But she would rather play dumb and act like nothing happened. Or is happening.

Queen sighed, and twitched as a drop of water fell in her eye. She cursed and rubbed at it, trying to get rid of the discomfort. Now realizing she was growing dizzy from the steam, she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, wringing out her hair and looking around the room for clothing. That is, until she realized she didn't _have_ any clothes in the room. She sighed heavily and picked up the navy-blue sheet that lay in a wrinkled heap on the floor, wrapping it around her body.

She moved towards the door, and pulled it open, freezing as she saw The Joker lounging on the couch in the middle of the room. She waited for him to roll over, look at her and make a smartass remark, but he never did. After a minute or two, Queen quietly walked out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, watching The Joker as she went. She closed the bedroom door slowly, and moved to her dresser, yanking open the top drawer and pulling out a pair of underwear and a bra. She put them on fairly quickly, then followed them with a shirt—similar to the red-orange shirt she wore before, only now a dark red—and a pair of grey jeans. Once she was fully dressed, she sighed. It was so refreshing to not feel like she was covered in blood (which she actually was, most of the time).

She ran a small brush through her knotted and damp hair, but paused as she saw her crown in the mirror, lying on the floor, just barely poking out from beneath a blanket. She turned around and picked it up, putting it back on her head and looking at the bed before her. It was a mess, the blanket was half on the floor, and one of the pillows was halfway across the room (she didn't want to think about how it got there or why). It caused her mind to wander back to about half an hour before. Images of herself and The Joker danced through her mind, each one more…_arousing_ than the last.

She shook her head and rubbed her temples as she just knew she was blushing. Queen hated when she did that. She was a criminal, and here she was getting all embarrassed and awkward over sex. It was pathetic.

Turning on her heel, Queen walked out of the bedroom, and felt proud as her heart didn't quicken, flutter or skip when she saw The Joker giggling on the couch about something blowing up on TV. She sat down calmly on the arm of the couch and looked with interest at whatever The Joker was watching. Some man with a British accent gave the warning to 'not do this at home' numerous times, before a microwave (apparently containing alcohol and a fork) exploded. Queen figured it was some scientific show. She didn't want to know why someone put alcohol and a fork in a microwave though.

The Joker looked at her, and she returned the favor as she felt his gaze on the side of her face. He grinned, and she smirked a bit.

"Still _ti_red, darling?" He asked, winking. Queen rolled her eyes and snickered.

"Why, are you planning on running out to fight Batsy again?" She asked, looking at him again. Another grin, and Queen's smile faded. "Oh, hell no. Didn't I tell you that with that gash in your side if you moved too much you'd die?"

Yet another grin, "Yes, but _darling_, you haven't done much to help it _heal_. In fact, you've done the _opp_osite. Remember digging your nails into—"

"Okay!" Queen exclaimed, stopping him. So much for not being awkward on the subject of sex. "Yeah, I don't help much. But seriously, I'm not about to let you prance off into another freaking explosion. I'm not actually a nurse, you know."

"Aww," The Joker leaned over to her and put a finger under her chin. "Are you _worried_ about me, darling?"

"Whatever I answer, you'll just giggle and assume it's a yes," She replied. The Joker giggled, as Queen expected. He took a firm hold of her chin and pulled her down towards him. She didn't bother fighting—as he'd probably break her jaw if she did—and sighed, waiting for the kiss she knew was coming.

Joker yanked her down the rest of the way, and pressed a quick peck on her nose, then allowing her to sit up straight again. Queen frowned, confused for a moment. That wasn't lust or desire or anything remotely Joker-ish. That was affection, and Queen didn't understand.

He giggled at her again, "Darling, you _really_ need to learn more about me if you think I'm _all_ sex and violence."

Queen furrowed her eyebrows and rubbed her nose a bit, "Like the rest of the world, you mean?" She muttered, more to herself than to him.

"Hm?"

"Nothing."

She thought about it for a moment. She really didn't know all that much about The Joker. She had only ever thought of him as an overjoyed psycho that will kill you if you get in his way. She didn't want to test if he'd actually kill her if she got in his way. But somehow, she thought he wouldn't.

Of course, she was probably wrong.

But still she hoped she'd never find out.


	17. The Result

_So SO sorry about taking so long, everyone! And this chapter isnt even that long..._D:

_I'm having a bit of trouble moving the plot along...I hope you guys will be satisfied once the new development is revealed, but I doubt it, eheh ._._' _Anyway, enjoy chapter 17_

* * *

**17**

**The Result**

Queen sat up, rubbing her hands over her face a bit to wake herself up. She opened her eyes and looked around the dark room—the sun wasn't up yet, so she assumed it was around 3 or 4 in the morning.

Nevertheless, The Joker was prancing around the room, snatching up numerous weapons that he had dropped on the floor carelessly over the passed six weeks. Or perhaps it was seven, Queen wasn't sure. She also wasn't sure why she bothered counting.

"Queen! You're _up_! Good, then here!" He tossed her a gun, and she caught it clumsily.

"Damnit, stop throwing this shit around," She muttered, wiping the still-present sleepiness from her eyes. She stood up, but swayed a bit and clamped a hand over her mouth, suddenly feeling nauseous.

"_S_omething wrong, _dar_ling?" Joker asked, looking at her as he shoved another grenade into his jacket. Taking a deep breath, Queen steadied her stomach and shook her head.

"I'm fine," she said, though that didn't last too long. She clamped her hand over her mouth again as another wave of nausea hit her. She moved into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, and as soon as the sink came into view, she emptied the contents of her stomach into it. Gasping in displeasure, Queen unwillingly repeated the action.

By the time the nausea passed, Queen had probably emptied not only every remnant of food from her gut, but probably quite a bit of stomach acid as well. Her throat felt as if it was on fire as she spit the disgusting taste from her mouth and wiped her lips with a nearby towel. Dropping the towel on the floor, she exited the room, coming face to face with The Joker, who seemed, not exactly concerned, but interested.

"Feeling _sick_, darling? Perhaps you should stay _behind_ this time," He said, but Queen shoved him aside.

"I'm fine. I probably just ate something that was a bit expired," She said, putting her crown on her head and placing a nine-millimeter under the belt of her pants, hiding it with her shirt. "Where to this time?" The Joker smirked at her, and without answering her, pulled her out the door.

Queen sighed, her breath blowing a few strands of hair out of her face. The Joker had screwed her over this time, forcing her to watch the hostages. He claimed it was 'best', since she was sick. Of course, he didn't let up; despite how many times Queen told him that she _wasn't_ sick. Queen leaned against a pillar, glaring at the group of people huddled, tied up in the corner. The women were crying, the men were trembling, and the few children were hiding in the safety of their mother's bosoms. Other than the hostages, the only people in the room were Queen and about five thugs. Two were guarding the exits, one by the window, one by Queen, and the other standing by the hostages, with his gun pointed to one of their heads.

Queen shifted her weight onto her left leg, fiddling with her gun thoughtlessly. She flicked the safety on and off a few times, unloaded and reloaded the bullet magazine, cocked it, and pretended to pull the trigger. None of this entertained her enough. "Boring…" She muttered under her breath.

The thug near her—Wimpy, according to The Joker, though Queen remembered killing a Wimpy before. She assumed this one was a replacement—looked at Queen, expecting her to give him and order, but the order never came. He resumed looking at the hostages.

A small voice spoke from the group. "Why…are you doing this to us?"

Queen lifted her eyes, looking at a man who had managed to make the duct tape over his mouth fall off. "Hell if I know." She replied, jerking her head to tell the other thug—Grumpy, Joker called him—to re-tape the mans mouth.

"Please…!" The man pleaded, trying to get another minute of speech. "We didn't do anything, please Miss, let us go." Queen put her hand up and stopped Grumpy for a moment. She needed _some_ sort of entertainment.

"Give me a good reason why I should," She ordered.

The man paused, swallowing a bit before speaking. "Ma'am…listen, I have a family. I have a wife…and son…he's just going into elementary school this year…losing his father would ruin his life—"

"What makes you think I give a shit about your family?" Queen interrupted, staring hard at him with cold, bored eyes. The man faltered, trying to come up with something, but the words never left his mouth. "Time's up." Queen gestured to Grumpy, and he quickly wrapped a length of tape around the mans mouth. "None of you are leaving. I don't care about who or what is waiting for you outside—"

Queen stopped, placing her hand over her mouth as she felt sick again. She swore quietly, and leaned against the pillar, waiting to regain herself.

"Boss, you alright?" Asked Wimpy.

Queen nodded, swallowing. "Pay attention to the hostages, Wimpy…" She ordered quietly, stopping again as she could feel the contents of her stomach rising for the second time that day. She whipped her body around quickly, leaning behind the pillar and spilling whatever had rising from her belly onto the floor. The thugs behind her were alerted by this, but they weren't sure how to react. Grumpy shouted something at the hostages, who were trying to free themselves while the others were distracted. Wimpy stood by Queen, not sure whether he should try and support her or stay as he was. The other three thugs stayed in their positions.

Queen's nausea passed somewhat quickly, and she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, flicking the remnants there aside before she stood up.

"Boss—" Wimpy began.

"I'm fine, stop focusing on me," Queen demanded, steadying her uneven breathing. Through the almost deafening pounding in her head, Queen heard a few gunshots coming form outside, and the door nearby burst open. She heard his giggling, and knew that The Joker was back.

"Hm? Oh _dar_ling, I _told_ you that you should stay _behind_ today!" He said, moving over to her and patting her back.

"I told you…I'm fine!" Queen replied, smacking his hand away and standing straight.

"If you _s_ay so," Joker replied, then grinned and tugged her out the door. "Let's _go_! Batsy's _done_ for the da_y_!"

"That guy gives up too easily!" Queen scoffed, "We hardly get any action in for the viewers!"

"Don't break the _f_ourth _wall_, darling," Joker scolded, though he continued giggling.

After some more gunfire, and a chaotic car ride, the devious duo made it back to their 'hideout', as The Joker liked to call it.

As they moved down the halls, Queen paused at a vending machine, staring at it for a moment. "_Hun_gry, darlin_g_?" Joker asked playfully as he turned around and joined her.

Queen nodded, finding it weird that she felt the need for something sugar-y and unhealthy. She pulled out the nine-millimeter she had beneath her belt and hit the butt of it to the glass, making sure to cover her head. Once the glass was safely cleared away, she pulled out a random candy bar and tore the wrapping away, quickly chomping away.

"I _d_idn't know you ha_d_ a _sweet_ tooth," Joker said, watching with amusement as Queen finished the candy bar and tossed the wrapping away, quickly grabbing a second.

"With good reason," She muttered, biting into the second bar. "I _don't_."

"_Hm_, that's un_usual_," He replied, but didn't care enough to talk about it further and walked away. Queen grabbed yet another candy bar and stuffed it in her pocket, wondering why she liked them so much suddenly.

She didn't give too much thought to it, though. It wasn't really important. She tossed away the second wrapper as well, and followed The Joker back to their room.

Something nagged at the back of Queen's mind. She wasn't sure what it was, but it gave her a faint feeling of both fear and excitement.

'…_What the hell is with me recently?_' She thought, turning into the doorway.


	18. The Reveal

**_MATURE CONTENT WARNING!  
_**_Just so you know.  
Oh...and don't kill me for this development. ._. I know it's not very original  
And also sorry it's so short..._

* * *

**18**

**The Reveal**

"This can't be happening…" Queen murmured to herself, her face buried in her hands as she sat on the toilet in her apartment. "No way. I'm just losing my mind…that's got to be it."

Over the passed month, Queen had found herself being sick rather frequently. At first, she assumed it was food poisoning of some sort, and that it'd pass quickly. But, as she was still vomiting, that had proved to not be the case.

"I know! I'm dying, that's all!" Queen lifted her head and gently pounded her fist into her palm. "Yeah, I've got some sort of flu, and this is just the way it slowly kills me." She smiled, relieved. But her smile quickly fell and she held her head in her hands again. "Fuck, that's ridiculous…"

She groaned, and felt like she could burst into tears at any moment.

A knock came on the semi-open bathroom door. "Queen? You al_right_ in there?" Asked The Joker, pushing open the door and peering in.

"What the fuck do you think!?" Queen snapped at him. "Do I LOOK alright?!"

Joker stepped back quickly and raised his hands in surrender. "Now, now, darling, no need to _scream_."

She calmed quickly, and groaned again. "Fucking hormones…" She whispered. She really hated being a woman sometimes.

"Queen?" Joker asked again, stepping back into the bathroom and trying to see her face.

Queen slowly lifted her sweat-coated face, and frowned. She'd better tell him. "Fuck…Joker, we've got a problem…" She said half-heartedly.

"It seems _so_," He replied. "You loo_k_ aw_ful_!"

Queen sighed. "Yeah…thanks," She muttered, then got back to the point. "That sorta ties in with the problem."

"Oh? Well _then_, what is i_t_, hm?"

She swallowed and took a deep breath, staring Joker straight in the eyes. "Shit…I'm pregnant."

The silence that hung in the air after that statement could have strangled Queen.

Once it was broken, however, Queen was very surprised. She expected The Joker to laugh it off, or kill her, or punch her in the stomach and terminate the pregnancy. But he didn't. Instead he giggled gleefully and pulled Queen up.

He fell to his knees and threw his arms around her stomach, nuzzling her belly and still giggling. "How _fabulous_, darling!" He grinned up at her, meeting her utterly flabbergasted eyes.

"…Wait, what?" She asked, brilliantly. "You're…_happy_ about this? You're kidding me right?"

"No, no! Not at _all_!" He replied, hopping back up. "Believe it or _not_, I've alway_s_ wanted _t_o be a _dad_!" He gave her a toothy grin, but she still just stared at him.

"…Seriously?"

"_Yep_!"

"So…you're not gonna push me down the stairs or throw me out the window or punch me in the gut?" She asked.

"Of _course_ not!" He replied cheerfully, "That might hurt the _baby_."

"Yeah…that's sorta what I meant by that," She said, shaking her head. The Joker laughed.

"Well _th_en, darling, as _long_ as this baby is in your _tummy_," He patted her belly gently, "I'll make sure nothing _hurts_ you." He threw his arms around her and gave her a big hug, totally blowing Queen's mind.

All this was far too much for her brain to register. One, she was pregnant. Two, The Joker was _happy_ about it. That alone was enough to make her head spin.

"Jesus, Joker…" She muttered. "You confuse the fuck outta me…"

"Now, now, wa_tch_ you're _language_ in front of the _ba_by," The Joker replied, to which Queen scoffed. He held her at arms length and gave her his best serious face.

"Now, _Qu_een," He said, "I expec_t_ you to take it _easy_ for a while. No heavy _lift_ing and whatnot."

Queen gave him a confused stare. "You mean no heists? No kidnappings, no general havoc wreaking? Hell no! I may be flying double for now, but no way am I gonna sit around here while you go out and kill Batboy."

The Joker gave a squeaky laugh. "Oh now _darling_! You _know_ I can't kill Batsy!"

"Whatever. I'm not staying behind."

The two stared at each other for a while before Joker sighed, then giggled a bit. "Oh, you're so _stu_bborn! Alrigh_t_, you can _c_ome."

"Good!" The Joker giggled again and walked out of the bathroom. Queen followed him calmly, rubbing her hands over her dirty face. She heard another one of the Joker's low chuckles and soon found herself pinned to the wall behind her. She didn't react in shock, but merely stared at him in confusion. He grinned joyfully and, without a word, touched his lips to hers.

Queen frowned but didn't try to fight—her arms were being held against the wall, anyway. She did, however, fidget as the Joker ran his tongue across her lower lip teasingly.

"Mng…joher…" She murmured "Joker" awkwardly, her words muffled.

"Mn?" The Joker replied.

"Kwih ih…" She murmured again, this time trying to say "Quit it". His lips parted from hers, and he grinned maliciously.

"Why? Don't you _like_ it, _dar_ling?" He teased. Queen pouted at him.

"That's not the issue here…"

"_Oh_ yes it _is_!" He kissed her again.

"Mrph!" She made a noise of disapproval. "Joher!"

"Now darling, not tha_t_ I don't _love_ hearing you _s_ay my _na_me, but it gets in the _way_ like thi_s_," Joker scolded briefly as he parted their lips again. Queen tried to protest again, but he wouldn't hear it, and kissed her again, more fiercely this time.

With a small sigh through her nose, Queen gave in, and parted her lips a bit. The Joker chuckled deep in his throat and kissed her harder, pressing his body to hers.

Queen couldn't help but think that sex wasn't a good idea when she was carrying an extra passenger. But it wasn't like she really had a choice. So she simply went along with (and enjoyed, but she wouldn't admit it) what the Joker decided to do to her.

It wasn't too long before the two of them were on the floor, The Joker on top of Queen, shirtless and making noise.

The Joker chuckled as he lightly bit Queen's ear for fun. "You seem to be _enjoying_ this more than _usu_al, darling," He paused to nibble on her ear again, gaining a light gasp from her, "Could it be the _hormones_?"

"Oh shut up," Queen breathed, digging her nails into his back to get him to quit talking. "We can stop right now if you don't want me to enjoy it."

"Oh _no_," He replied, feigning hurt for a moment before returning to his natural, demanding grin. "You _do_ know that you don'_t_ have a choi_ce_ here, right, _dar_ling??"

Queen frowned a bit. "Yeah…" She muttered. The Joker grinned at her again.

"Good girl!"

He kissed her again, and bit her lower lip, making her twitch slightly. He sunk his teeth into her lip just enough to draw blood, then quickly licked it away, making sure to leave some on his lip as well. He backed away only slightly so Queen could see his face. She immediately saw the blood on his lips, and couldn't hold back the sadism that forced its way to the surface again. He pulled him down against her hard, and bit his lip as well. She raked her nails across his back and caused as much pain to him as she could. When she had chewed his lip to the point where it was red and slightly swollen, she proceeded to sink her teeth into his neck as hard as she could. With a quick movement, Queen rolled the Joker over so now she was on top of him, and she proceeded to rake her nails across his chest, creating bloody scrapes matching the ones on his back. She leaned down and trailed her tongue along the bleeding marks, enjoying the oddly pleasant, metallic taste of the Joker's blood.

* * *

The scene escalated, and by the time they were finished, there were numerous splotches of blood on the floor below them, and a significantly larger amount on their own bodies.

"God damnit…" Queen muttered as she laid down beside Joker. "You set me off again…"

"Oh, darling, I _enjoy_ setting you off, you_ know_," He replied. Queen looked at him for a moment, before sighing.

That man was such a weirdo.


	19. The Thugs

_Ohgeez guys, I'm so sorry for the late update. But I've been so distracted with school work and friend problems and my computer getting a virus, I totally forgot to work on my stories..._D: _And I know this chapter is short and SO not worth the wait..._

_Please enjoy anyway, though. (And I'm running out of names for the thugs...I was going on the seven dwarfs for a while, but you know _XD_)_

* * *

**19**

**The Thugs**

Queen groaned and sat herself down on the couch. She had nothing to do, since The Joker had left her behind. Again.

That guy was really starting to piss her off. Sure, she did have an extra passenger with her—she absently rubbed her slightly plump stomach as she thought this—but that didn't mean she couldn't go out and set the city ablaze.

"So much for being a man of your word," She muttered, pouting.

One of the thugs passed by the open door, and paused to look at her. She looked back, and noticed that he was regarding her stomach. He smirked slightly, forced it back, then hurriedly walked away.

He moved down the hall to the last door, and walked in. A few other thugs were sitting around, either watching television or playing cards or smoking.

"Yo, Simon," Said one thug who The Joker called "Pouty", but his real name was Jasper. "What're you smirking about?"

Simon—The Joker called him "Sappy"—chuckled. "Look's like the boss's bitch is knocked up."

"She'd kill ya if she heard ya call her the Joker's bitch," Another thug—"Mopey" and Patrick—spoke up from the card table. "And where 'ave ya been? Just 'bout ev'ryone knows she's preggo."

"Well, no one bothered to tell me," Simon retorted, sitting down and taking a Marlboro from Ian—"Grumpy". He lit it up and blew the smoke over the table.

"It's ratha' obvious, brah'," Ian said, speaking with an unusual accent that seemed a mix between English and Jamaican. "D'you see how The Joka' looks at her? He's totally tapped that."

Numerous men in the room snickered.

"I didn't know she was into crazy fuckjobs," Another thug—"Dopey" aka Melvin.

"Nah, it's the crazy fuckjob that's into _her_," "Happy"—Marcus—joked, gaining roars of laughter from the other men.

"Ya think if I put on some clown make-up, she'd fuck me?" Patrick inquired with a devilish grin, causing a few of his card players to whoop and cheer.

"No, actually. No amount of make-up could hide that ass-ugly face of yours," Stated Queen from the doorway, arms crossed and mouth set in an irritated scowl. Each man in the room shut up quickly. "Look, if you dumbass bags of testosterone are going to talk about me, do it _quietly_."

"Sort of like how you and Joker _didn't_?" Said Patrick, who was smirking again. A few of the braver thugs chuckled at this, but Queen was not amused.

"Exactly like that. Though I'm sure you're just sour 'cause you never had a woman scream like that for you." The men "ooooh"ed at that comment. Patrick's face flushed a flaming red (whether from anger or embarrassment, Queen wasn't sure), and he shot up out of his chair, crossing the room with surprising swiftness.

"I'll make _you_ scream, you bitch!" He hissed, moving to shove Queen out of the doorway, but she easily sidestepped his action. He bared his teeth like a crazed animal and raised a fist…which was quickly caught and pulled back to the point where his shoulder almost popped. He screamed in both pain and surprise.

"Wha_t_ exactly do you _think_ you're doin_g_?" The Joker asked, and though his tone seemed calm enough, the look on his face was close to rage.

"B-B-Boss!" Patrick exclaimed, but he was silenced as Joker put more pressure on his shoulder.

"I would suggest _you_ get out of _he_re, before you make me _angrier_," The Joker threw Patrick to the ground and kicked him in the rib. Patrick quickly scrambled to his knees, apologized, and slowly stumbled away. The thugs inside the room were stunned to silence.

The Joker looked at Queen, who was equally surprised. Did…did he just threaten that guy, for _her_ sake??

"Are you al_right_, darling?" He asked, grinning his trademark psycho-grin. Queen's mouth fell open against her will, and she gawked for a while longer before stammering a reply.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. That creep didn't get a single punch in," Queen absently patted down some of her hair that had gotten mussed, and rubbed her stomach. The Joker grinned wider and patted her stomach himself.

"Good to _hear_!"

Queen snapped back to the real world, and remembered that she was mad at him. "H-Hey, wait a second! Why the hell did you leave me behind again!?" She exclaimed in irritation.

The Joker pouted like a struck puppy. "Well…I _can't_ risk the _baby_," He whined.

"That's _my_ problem!" Queen groaned her reply. "Besides, aren't you a 'man of your word'?"

The Joker pouted again, as if trying to get out of the deal. After about a minute of pouting at Queen and gaining a glare in return, he gave up. "Ye_s_, yes…alright, I'll brin_g_ you nex_t_ time."

"You better," Queen growled, "And _no_ leaving when I turn my back, or you'll be the next one with a broken rib." Queen nodded her head in the direction Patrick has ambled. Joker smirked and shrugged.

"You know I'd _like_ it, darling," He stated, and winked at Queen before waltzing away. Queen frowned deeper.

"Bastard," She muttered. She heard a cough to her right, and realized she was still in the doorway of the Thugs' lounge. She flushed slightly, growled at them (which caused them to shrink back from her), and walked off.


	20. The Loss

_**WARNING**! Events in this chapter may offend/disgust/upset some readers! I would specify, but it's a spoiler, so **CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK**._

_So...getting close to the end here. One more chapter after this. To be honest, I didn't want it to end this way, but it's the only way I could think of._  
_I know these chapters are short, and I'm sorry. They seem so much longer on Word. But, enjoy anyway._

* * *

**20**

**The Loss**

Queen sat alone, once again, in her room, her hand set flat on a tabletop, rapidly stabbing the spaces between her fingers with a fork. There were only a few punctures in her fingers from this, but Queen didn't pay attention even to the still bleeding ones.

The Joker was absent from the apartment, and Queen had no clue where he had went. But she didn't really care about that. What she did care about was the fact that he left without her _again_! When he came back, she was going to stab that fork right into his make-up covered eye—

"Darling, that's _really_ not _s_afe," Said the Joker from the doorway, who had came in without Queen noticing. "Or good for the _ta_ble."

Queen jumped at the sudden voice intruding her thoughts, and accidentally drove the fork into her ring finger. She shouted and threw the fork, clutching said finger.

"God _damn_it, Joker!" She hissed, looking at her wound, which was starting to bleed now. The Joker frowned.

"_Sorry_, darling, didn't _m_ean to startle you," He said. Queen scowled at him.

"And where have you been, anyway?" She hissed. "If you went on another spree without me, I swear…"

"No, _no_ darling," He cackled "I just went to set up a little _surprise_ for Batboy, no _act_ion, don't worry." He wiggled his fingers slightly as he said 'action', but Queen wasn't sure why.

She scoffed. "Fine. Still should'a fuckin' brought me, but—" Gunfire erupted from a few floors below, cutting Queens sentence short and bringing both her and the Jokers attention somewhere else. Joker rushed out of the room with a maniacal grin on his face and an air of glee surrounding him, and Queen couldn't help but follow. They saw a few thugs running down the stairs, and as they went to descend as well, one thug Queen was not familiar with ran back up and blocked their way.

"Shoo, shoo!" Said the Joker, making waving motions with his hands to make the man move. "Whichever one you are, get moving."

"The cops are here, boss! They found us!" He said frantically. The Jokers face lit up with excitement as he shoved the man to the side and almost leaped down the staircase. Queen frowned, and against her better judgment and maternal instincts screaming at her to go the other way, she followed him.

"Hey, Joker," She said, stumbling to keep up with him, "This is probably a stupid question, but don't you think we should get out of here?" The Joker glanced back at her, then looked at her large belly.

"Hm…Ye_s_, darling, you _g_o with Wimpy and Happy, wher_ever_ they are, and get yourself ou_t_ of here. If they get shot…just leave them."

"Wait, _what_? You think I'm just gonna leave? Hell no! This is the first real action I've seen in a while! I'm not letting you have it all!" Queen exclaimed, irritated. The Joker hesitated, obviously not keen on the idea of Queen taking part in the chaos with to-be-Joker Jr (and if Joker thought that was gonna be the child's name, Queen thought, He was dreaming).

"_Well_, if you insi_st_, darling," Joker said after a moment, "Let's go!"

They descended the stairs, The Joker up ahead while Queen descended more carefully to avoid falling, until they heard heavy, cop-like footsteps riding towards them. Joker grinned wildly and pulled Queen through the door to the second floor. There were numerous thugs grabbing weaponry from certain rooms, and Queen took it upon herself to snatch a pistol and shotgun from one of them. She handed the shotgun to The Joker, who took it with a grin and, as soon as the officers were in sight, he kicked open the door and shot the two bullets into the front officers' head. The officer tumbled backwards and knocked one other cop off his feet, sending them both down the stairs. Queen could hear the living cop's neck snap as he flipped over and hit the last step hard. She lifted her pistol and shot a few of the other cops as they hurried out of sight. One cop muttered something, and two others shot out from behind the stair, guns pointed right at Queen, but before they could shoot her, one of them shouted "Cease fire, she's pregnant!"

Queen grinned, having not expected them to try and protect the child that would no doubt one day become a villain as well. She, however, did not return the mercy, and quickly shot the two revealed officers. She moved to shoot the others, but stopped as a sharp pain went through her stomach. The baby seemed to be kicking, hard.

"Damnit, kid…stop!" She muttered, wincing.

Suddenly, a rather large amount of commotion sounded from within the second floor, and The Joker giggled again. "_Looks_ like Batsy is here!" He turned around joyfully, but Batman was already upon him, and he was hurled aside quickly. Queen turned to face him, but didn't get much of a look before one of the cops jumped her. She swung her arm around and managed to slam him in the jaw with the butt of her gun. The cop stumbled, and she took that change to punch him hard in the throat, which sent him back and down the stairs, joining the other two. The other remaining cops scurried back down the stairs, most likely to get reinforcements.

Queen scoffed and turned to face Batsy, who was occupied with The Joker. She briskly walked towards him, with every intention of shooting him in the back (she was never one for fighting fair). However, he jumped back to avoid a blow, and Queen was unable to get out of the way fast enough, causing them to collide. Batman's elbow was driven into her stomach, which sent her stumbling back in shock. Batman spun around and, apparently not noticing her plump belly, punched her there again, and Queen stumbled further, hitting the wall and sliding down until she sat on the floor.

Blood began to flow from between her legs, darkening her pants as it seeped through and pooling around her. She stared, dumfounded, and croaked out a ragged moan of pain. The Joker saw her then, or more accurately, saw the blood coming from her, and his attention was driven immediately to Batman, who stood staring at Queen, surprised at what he had done. Joker pounced onto him, mercilessly punching him again and again until blood stained both his mask and Jokers glove. Any blow the caped crusader tried to get in was easily blocked in The Jokers rage, rendering him practically helpless.

"Joker…" The groan of his name was so quiet, Joker almost didn't hear it, and even though he did, it took him a moment to stop pummeling Batman and look to see where it came from. Queen, he saw, was struggling to stand up, but the effort only caused her to groan again and sink back down.

The Joker stopped his assault on Batman, who was now coughing up the blood he had accidentally swallowed, and moved over to Queen with a blank expression. He pulled her to her feet, and barked at the thugs in the doorway, "Get that _doct_or, now!"

The Joker and Queen had decided weeks before that they would kidnap a doctor by the name of Jensen when the time came for Queen to have the child. They had a few different thugs following her at all times, so they'd know where she was. Now, the food doctor would save the baby, if she valued her life.

Queen was unable to register the events around her. Her eyes were blurred with tears, and her heartbeat was pounding in her ears hard enough that it was the only thing she could hear. She barely registered the fact that she was moving until she was suddenly on a soft surface. There was a garbled, angry voice speaking somewhere nearby, and a shaky, scared voice followed it. There was a shout, and then a scream, then Queen felt hands moving on her body. All the feelings she felt at the time were dull, until the pain started. She arched her back and screamed as the pain scorched through her lower body. Her head was turned to the side when her sight returned fully, and the first thing she saw was The Joker, standing across the room, holding a gun pointed at the woman who was bent over Queen's waist. The woman was shaking, Queen could tell, but she worked professionally nevertheless.

"It's far too early for her to give birth…" She murmured, frowning. "Even if the baby survived the beating, it won't live long in these conditions—" The Joker stopped her sentence by shooting at her with the revolver he held. The bullet missed her foot, but she still screamed.

"You're _not_ here to think about whether or not he will live, you're here to make _sure_ he lives," Joker growled. "If _you_ want to live, that is."

Queen screamed and writhed, gaining little more than a glance from The Joker. The doctor's hands trembled throughout the hours that passed, though she worked surprisingly calmly until the baby was born. However, born is not the correct term. The child was already dead by the time it was out of the womb. The doctor didn't even have enough time to say "I'm sorry" before her brain matter was splattered on the ground around her. The stillborn was on the ground beside her, still unmoving.

The Joker did not speak, to Queen or otherwise, as he turned and left the room. All the thugs nearby (some had gathered around when they heard the screaming, though most had hurried away in disgust at the sight) made sure to stay out of his way, and some hurried in the opposite direction.

Queen lay motionless on the cough, breathing heavily and ignoring the blood that drenched her body. The remaining pain from the birth throbbed in her lower body, and her heart still pounded. She couldn't bring herself to move.

There were few females thugs in Joker's team, but the ones who were had gathered to see the birthing immediately. Some of them didn't care about the tragedy, but one who went by the name of Jen (though Joker preferred to call her Jenny) had been popping in on Queen occasionally during her term. She was the only one to step forward in the silence.

She walked carefully toward Queen and put a blanket over her, before walking to the bathroom and bringing back a wet rag to sop up the blood and whatever else. Queen still had not moved, nor said anything, by the time the blood was cleaned up and the watching thugs wandered off to do other things. Jenny was the first to speak.

"'Ey," She began, her Aussie accent shining broadly through. "You doin' aw-roight?"

Queen sighed, but smirked at the accent that never ceased to amuse her. "As 'aw-roight' as one can be in my place."

"Aah…stupid question, eh?" Jenny frowned and tossed the rag into the sink.

"Yeah…really stupid."

Jenny looked at Queen, then at the sheet on the floor, which covered the bodies no one wanted to see. "It's okay t' cry, ya know. Ya've got plenty o' reasons." Queen scoffed.

"I don't want to." She stated.

"Pft, _no_ one wants ta." Jenny kneeled down beside the woman who could be called her friend. She saw how Queen's eyes were glistening slightly, but she could tell she was trying her best to hold it back. "It's not loike 'nyone else is around."

Queen clenched her jaw and still tried to hold back the tears, but she failed. "Damn it, Jen…" She sobbed, putting her hands over her face and wailing. "Damn it…!"


	21. The End

_Wow, this one came out much, much shorter than planned...I guess it should be more of a epilogue or something. Oh well.  
So, we've finally come to the end. I'll miss writing about these two.  
Well, enjoy. And a last "Goodbye" from The Queen of Hearts_

* * *

**21**

**The End**

Queen got over the physical soreness rather quickly, and she was feeling surprisingly good by the time a week had passed. She also wasn't very mentally shaken up either. She hadn't become too attached to the child, and after the first time she cried she didn't feel the need anymore. Jenny still showed up every so often to make sure Queen was "aw-roight", but Queen shooed her away for the most part, telling her she had too much sympathy. Queen was more interested in the fact that she had not seen The Joker since the miscarriage. She remembered the cold look his eyes held when he left the room, and the memory still sort of bothered her. He must have really liked the idea of a kid after all.

She frowned. That man was a weird one.

Queen slowly sat up from her laying position, and swung her legs off of the couch. She'd deal with The Joker next time she saw him, whenever the hell that was. For now, she'd take a shower and occupy herself, perhaps find the other thugs and play poker with them. Provided Joker didn't kill most of them.

Then, right on cue, the door opened, and in walked the maniac himself. He didn't even cast Queen a second glance as he walked to the kitchenette and grabbed a canister of gasoline from beneath the sink. Queen watched with a quirked eyebrow.

"…Joker?" She asked, somewhat awkwardly. He did not respond, but went on to pour the gasoline throughout the room. Queen jumped back as he poured some of the gasoline her way. "Okay, moving location, I assume? You could'a told me that." Joker lifted his eyes and looked at her with the same cold expression, as if he just noticed she was there. Queen frowned and furrowed her eyebrows, noticing he still seemed upset. "You still shaken up about the mis—"

The Joker pulled a gun from his belt and pointed it at her, stopping her sentence short. She stared at it for a moment, as if it were a foreign object she had never seen before, then looked at him, then repeated the action, unable to think of something to say. She opened her mouth to try anyway, to question him, or rightfully accuse him of being crazy, but she didn't get the chance before Joker pulled the trigger.

Queen fell to the ground, her skull now open and letting all the blood and such inside flow onto the floor. There wasn't anything that went through her mind before the black took her, other than cursing herself for becoming boring.

The Joker lowered the gun and turned to leave, saying only one thing to the bloody corpse:

"I told you I'm a man of my word."


End file.
